WeaKnees.com is offering a $199 Apple TV Upgrade Kit that provides you with a 160GB hard disk drive that’s ready to go — it’s formatted and prepped by the company, and ready for installation when it arrives.
The Apple TV connects to a widescreen television and enables you to watch digital video, view photos and listen to music stored on your Macintosh. In addition to streaming content from computers on your household network, it can synchronize the contents of an iTunes directory on a specific computer. But early buyers of the Apple TV have voiced criticism that the device’s built-in 40GB hard disk drive isn’t large enough to accommodate their collections, especially when video is added to the mix.
Already several guides have popped up online — including one on Macworld — that help do-it-yourselfers install hard disk drive upgrades to the Apple TV. This process voids your Apple warranty, but if finding additional hard disk drive space is key for you to enjoy your Apple TV, it may be what you need.
Preparing a new hard drive for use with the Apple TV isn’t a trivial process — Macworld’s Dan Frakes explained how to do it using the Mac OS X Terminal utility and a variety of Unix commands.
By comparison, WeaKnees.com’s service sends you a fully-formatted 160GB drive that’s ready to go, and includes the tool you need to open the Appe TV and installation instructions. All you need to do is take apart the Apple TV and install the new drive, then put it back together again. And if you don’t want to do that, WeaKnees.com offers an upgrade service for an additional $49.