After battling through for the last 18 months with an original Ipad Air I'd like to participate in more group rides and races which my current ipad air really struggles with.
My options for replacement seem plentiful but wanted to see if I'm missing anything or has anyone got a clever alternative.
Is there anything else I should be thinking about-
1. Ipad Air £579
2. apple TV with a screen- £179 plus a screen
3. Some form of laptop
4. Possibly a PC
Happy to look at other options and see if there are any other smart solutions out there.
Every time I use Zwift I wish I was set up with a TV.
Bloody iPad wobbling away all the time!
What does it struggle with? I found the quality of the internet connection was the limiting factor for group rides/races.
I'm currently using an old (c2012) mac mini and a 24 inch screen.
It's running at max resolution and copes fine. As above, wifi is the limiting factor.
I've got a £40 windows stick PC which I think could probably run it.
I’ve got wall mounted tv and Apple TV and it’s brilliant. Much more immersive than a tablet
I second bigyim - 32” tv and Apple TV (Apple TV includes Zwift App) and an interactive turbo and it’s been a game changer 👍
Just relegated the 48in living room TV to Zwift duties running on an apple 4k TV. It's running like a bag of shit with a ropey wifi connection.
I'd probably go Apple TV and a second hand big telly.
Just check on the Bluetooth connectivity, as I think there is a limit (3 devices?), so I think if you want trainer, HRM & cadence sensor on Bluetooth you need to disconnect the Apple TV remote - something like that.
There’s a limit on Apple TV with Bluetooth but you can add extra Bluetooth with the companion app
Apple TV and telly. 40” here.
When I watch a movie on the big screen I have zwift on the iPad and it’s nowhere near as good.
I think nirvana would be a twin 32” setup but possibly overkill for the man cave 😂
On the Bluetooth thing my wahoo updated itself a while back to kick out cadence from the trainer and it’s pretty accurate so no issues using atv with a bt heart monitor and wahoo. Not sure on tacx.
I currently run mine on a 15" laptop and (most of the time) it works flawlessly and I can see everything ok. I do have some connection dropouts but I think that is more to do with wifi or some of the zwift update glitches, no issues with the laptop itself.
However I'm currently doing up the spare room to become a more dedicated pain cave and a large tv will be going on the wall
Go large screen if you can, it will be more immersive
I've been using an iPad on a Tacx holder for ages now, works perfectly fine and wobbling isnt an issue. I'd kinda like a appleTV and a big screen but the portability and and flexibility of the ipad suits me
I bought a cheap hp office pc off eBay for 100 quid, put a old 60gig SSD I had spare, and a cheap graphics card in it. Runs it all at max settings.
I've been happy enough with an Apple TV. Companion app (used to get around the bluetooth limit) did seem to fall over with some of the really big group rides/races earlier in the year though.
Cheers all.
Its the app falling over at the start of races thats the pain.
Have checked the signal and it appears to be full, which is not surprising because I'm pretty close to the router.
Will have a think about the TV option definitely would be the best if I could get it mounted up or on some form of stand.
Cheers again
Laptop is usually much better than ipad for sure (of course it may depend on your laptop).
Big screen is great though. 13" laptop a little too small for my liking.
I'm using an oldish Android tablet (Galaxy Tab S2 I think) and about ten quids worth of music stand in front of the bike. Works great, in fact the Android app loads up much quicker than the Windows app I was previously using on an MS Surface.
My Apple TV Set up has been rock solid.
Advantage with an Apple TV over an iPad is that it can be run with a LAN rather than over Wi-Fi.
Apple TV (4K) for the win.
Normally rock solid, no dramas - quick to power up and use. Any old iOS device for Companion.
The major downside is any event that needs a bike swap - forget that with the remote.
I bought a cheap hp office pc off eBay for 100 quid, put a old 60gig SSD I had spare, and a cheap graphics card in it. Runs it all at max settings.
You can't really control the graphics settings in Zwift other than the resolution. Anything else requires editing configuration files and even then Zwift will pick global properties that it thinks will suit your system.
So it'll run on an ancient(ish) computer but won't look particularly pretty. They are pretty good at support, though, and added the dedicated nVidia card in my laptop to their approved list, which gave a remarkable bump in image quality.
I'd probably still get an Apple TV 4K though.
I was using my (employer supplied) iPad Pro into which I plugged in my (employer supplied) projector which screened onto the wall and it was brilliant, almost like the ads for zwift, (as long as it was dark) but a colleague asked to borrow the projector just before first lockdown started in march and I haven’t been able to see him to get it back!!
Good system though.
Used a spare 42” telly and plug my laptop in, tv mounted on a stand from Amazon with wheels and a small shelf. Works great. USB cable to ant+ dongle by trainer and a foam floor mat.
I got a dell reconditioned laptop. It was £300 4 years ago, nothing fancy. 15" screen. one of the later generations of the i3 processor. Zwift runs well enough. Graphics are fine for a small monitor. I probably miss out on the stuff you see in 4K on a big tv but it doesn't affect how I use it.
If I had a TV, I'd get apple TV. My friends who use that seem to have no issues beyond getting wifi in the garage. As above wifi is probably limiting.
iPad 2 with HDMI dongle to an old 32" TV works fine.
Apple TV with same TV works a little better (full screen).
I haven't run the companion app. And If I'm on the rollers with Zwift, forget about interaction!
I'm considering another Apple TV for the garage as the famille TiRed get a bit tetchy when I purloin it for Zwift duties.
Slightly relevant I think but just a note to say that I have also recently got into Zwift racing and coincidentally need a new laptop for work purposes.
I think I am going to buy a budget gaming laptop with a 17" screen (so, I think maybe £800-900) as that will easily suffice for work and Office 365 and presumably provide me a good platform to run Zwift from.
Currently running Zwift on a low-end Lenovo and it does run quite sticky sometimes if a lot of users are logged onto Zwift. Screen feels a bit too small too as my set-up means it has to be on a window-sill rather than on a table in front of me.
Recently picked up the OH an apple TV, not the 4k version but the other one, for £75 on facebook marketplace. Easily the cheapest way to get up and running unless you already have other devices. Remote is a little frustrating to access all the menus needed but I think the companion app on a mobile would take care of that. I personally never use the home screen to sign up for events etc. anyway.
I run an Ipad and companion on the phone and it's been great, until tonight 🙁
dropped out twice and seemed really sticky with bikes being visible but with no riders on them. I wouldn't be too bothered but I was trying to attempt an FTP test that I had geared myself up for all day !!!.
I'll Try again tomorrow
Bloody computers !!!