right, I’ve been using Zwift on my laptop, which I have to shift in place and setup each time, and my partner has been doing the same with her laptop.
We want to make the zwift experience super easy, so we are going to share my bike (change of saddle+seatpin height), and have a computer device always plugged in to a monitor / tv and ready to go.
I have a 5yr old graphics card I was keen to use, and was going to buy a refurbed PC for about £160 or so (an i5 3.1Ghz with 4GB of RAM) and our old flat screen 32" TV.
However, I’ve been looking into Apple TV and it seems to make the experience easy, apart from the BT ports!! I have (and we will share) a Tacx Flux S and I use a Garmin HR strap (which will be ANT+ wont it - tho I do have a BLE HR strap too). I have an ANT+ dongle I use in my PC already.
The kit is in a gym room / kids play room so may also be used for watching kids movies and yoga videos.
I would say Refurbished PC.That i5 will do the trick. I don’t know what the 5year Graphics card is but I would suggest a GTX960.
With the PC you have more options like using discord and listing to music while riding. Also to me ANT+ is a must I get better results than BT.
Yes a Pc is a bit more expensive but you get a lot more.
Check the 32" TV resolution some are only 720p that will not look great. I tried a 42" tv but did not like it, I prefer my 27" gaming pc monitor up close, I can touch my monitor while seated on the bike.
Get a keyboard stand or make one, having the keyboard closeby is very handy. I have a bluetooth keyboard with built in track ball works like a charm.
Yes, a PC is the way to go.
The graphics are much better than with Apple TV.
An old i5-3470 with 8GB RAM is enough.
The GPU is more important than the CPU.
An AMD Radeon 6670 will perform poorly - around 15 - 20 fps basic profile at 1080, which is worse than an Apple TV, and the refurb PC with only 4GB RAM sounds a bit old for 160 pounds. I would get an AppleTV 4K and be done. Do you really want a PC build, support and maintenance project with a family and everything else competing for your time?
My first Zwift setup was a Intel Q8200 with 4GB RAM and an old ATI HD5670 with 512MB VRAM and a 26" 720p TV.
It was OK and I would still use it, but I got my i5-3470, 8GB, AMD HD7850 very cheap.
So I think the 6670 with 1GB VRAM would perform OK on a 720p TV.
You can still upgrade if you get a 1080p TV.
