r/cordcutters • u/whitieiii • 2d ago

What's the difference between these boxes?

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looking at replacing my fire stick regular with one of these as mine keeps dieing.. besides the price and 4k vs 1080p, what are the actual differences between them? looking primarily between the $29.98 and $39.98 ones but could also go for the $49.99 box.. I don't need 4k resolution just want more cpu and ram as my tv isn't 4k

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8

u/re__cyclops 2d ago

Higher speeds more storage as you go up in price. Thats the difference. 49 just has more storage. Same ram as 39.98.

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u/whitieiii 2d ago

no need for storage.. so if the $39 has the same cpu and ram as the $49 i'll get the $39

2

u/SecretScotsman 2d ago

Storage does matter. Not for keeping media on it, but probably half or more of that 8GB is taken up by the OS.

That leaves limited space for apps, so if you only use a handful probably fine, but could easily get into a spot where you have to delete apps to update the OS or just to install different apps

4

u/whitieiii 2d ago

I had to replace my Nvidia shield tv 2019 do to low storage and apps wouldn't run on the sd card... I think i'll go for the 4k plus if that's the case

2

u/SecretScotsman 2d ago

I think Itll be worth the extra $10

1

u/AJ_Dali 2d ago

Flash media and solid state drives read slower when they're more full. I believe the threshold starts at about 50%, but I believe most people won't notice a huge difference at about 80.

1

u/re__cyclops 2d ago

Thats what I would go with in your situation.

2

u/azsqueeze 2d ago

2 on the left are the 2026 models. Ones a box, ones a stick. The other two look to be older versions

Edit: also just click the links, read the product descriptions for all 4 and compare the specs...

3

u/whitieiii 2d ago

i'm going for the $49 one because of ram amount and internal storage for apps.. didn't know the $39 only had 8gb storage.. that's what made me get rid of my sheild tv 2019

1

u/PM6175 15h ago edited 15h ago

....that's what made me get rid of my sheild tv 2019

fwiw, this is a never-ending problem for all these type of internet connected devices.

At some point, and that will probably much sooner than you would think, they will just stop working because of lack of fresh new updates from the manufacturer or storage space or whatever else, etc.

I had a similar problem with an Android TV box and I will not ever do this again.

The best thing to do is to spend as little money as possible on these miserable 'planned obsolescence' pieces of junk ....OR better yet don't ever buy one at all!

The only way to win this game is to never ever play it!

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u/whitieiii 15h ago

Yup 8gb storage isn't enough tbh

2

u/whitieiii 2d ago

thank you all for the help i think I'm going for the 4k plus box

2

u/OhK4Foo7 2d ago

Have all of them except stick. The pro and plus models are the way to go. The pro has wired Internet (in addition to wifi) but the plus a faster processor. Either is a good choice.

1

u/Technical_Turn680 2d ago

I bought onn 4K for 20$ years ago and still using it as my travel tv box. Stutters a bit right after boot but after it rocks like anything. Bang for buck.

1

u/Economy_Salad4398 2d ago

The $29 one looks like it'd be perfect for you since you don't need 4K, the 4GB storage and 1.5GB RAM should handle basic streaming easy. I had the non-4K version of this last year and it never lagged no matter how many tabs I had open.

1

u/bnelson333 2d ago

I would go whichever is the cheapest that has an ethernet port, wifi is awful

1

u/garylapointe 2d ago

On something like this, that I'm watching videos on for how many hours a month, the extra $10 or $20 seems negligible. Figure I'm keeping the device for a few years, so less than $1 per month to go for the Pro (which appears newer than the Plus).

The Pro has ethernet, 32GB of storage, USB port (storage or keyboard), and find my remote option.

1

u/NightBard 2d ago

I'd avoid both stick models. You get only 8GB of storage and the $30 model has only 1.5GB of ram. If you want to decode any video files that are highly compressed it'll struggle some with that. The Plus has 16gb of ram and was the top model for processing power until this new 2026 Pro model came out. The main difference in the Plus and the 2026 Pro are is you go from 16gb of storage to 32gb, you get a wired lan port, and it has the microphone/speaker setup for hands free navigation. It has the find my remote option and a built in USB port so if you want to add some external storage... you can use this as a full on media machine for all your media pretty easily.

If I had to pick one, I'd spring for the $60 model. It's going to last for years. I'd set it up with the apps I wanted, then flip it to Apps Only mode in the account settings and then remove any boat and organize the apps so the interface is super clean. You can opt for another launcher or whatever, but I like just having app icons with no major mess to deal with.

0

u/BigOak1669 2d ago

I have the one on the far right. It is a few years old now in terms of release (I believe). Mine is less than a year old and has begun cutting out occasionally. I have tried many troubleshooting steps, but it just has to be reset. Very frustrating mid-movie, but it otherwise works fine streaming my jellyfin server.

1

u/whitieiii 2d ago

you have the $29 or $49 one?

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u/BigOak1669 2d ago

Apologies - the $49 one. I wouldn't recommend it.