Chromecast vs Apple TV
blog.riobard.com
blog.riobard.com
The Apple hardware fits neatly into my entertainment center. It's small, the light is unobtrusive, and the power cord is a cord, rather than a brick. The ethernet cable gives me a solid, reliable connection.
The Chromecast, however, has a much brighter light. It flashes incessantly when it can't connect properly, which it can't when plugged in behind my receiver. (It also would have been completely useless in my old condo, where the 2.4 Ghz range was so crowded as to be unusable.) So then it goes back behind the TV, where the included extension is too short to properly flex 90 degrees. The USB power either sticks out from the side of the TV, or is yet something else to fish down to the power strip, far away from the wall-mounted television.
Don't get me wrong - I really like the $35 device. It's going to be great next time I travel; I'll bring it rather than the HDMI dongle for my tablet for before-bed Netflix viewing. But the author's negative points about the AppleTV are easily resolved by a $3 HDMI cable from Monoprice.
Interesting that the Chromecast sticks out from the side of your TV. Mine is an 40" Samsung, and the HDMI port is deep in the center of the TV enough to completely hide the plugged Chromecast from front view, so I cannot see the light at all. I don't even know it blinks! :D As mentioned in the article, I use the TV's USB port to power Chromecast, and I really enjoy the cleanliness this design gives me as I have severe aversion of cord mess.
I completely agree with you on the wired connection part, and I feel for many urban dwellers the instability of 2.4 GHz will be a major headache to use Chromecast. My neighborhood is relatively Wi-Fi-sparse with only a dozen or so visible SSIDs so it's fine for me.
As for the HDMI cable thing, I did get a ~$3 HDMI cable from eBay so I'm fine. I'm just pissed off by the whole HDMI cable scam that's widespread at places like BestBuy for general folks.