The new Google TV Streamer isn't as powerful as the Apple TV 4K, and as we noted in our Apple TV 4K vs Google TV Streamer head to head, it has less storage too. But it has one important advantage over its Apple rival: you can connect a nice big external storage device.
The news comes via 9to5Google, which asked Google to confirm whether the new streamer could use USB storage devices. The answer is yes: the USB-C port on the Google TV Streamer isn't just for powering it, but enables you to connect one of the best external drives or flash drives too – although in order to do that you'll need to plug in a dongle with multiple ports so that the device can still get power.
That means you could also be able to use other external USB peripherals such as game controllers, mice and more, although as yet nobody's tested those devices with the new streamer – and as we noted, it doesn't look like the Google TV Streamer will have the power for all kind of non-streaming apps that the Apple TV 4K does.
Why would you want extra storage?
While the Apple TV 4K has a choice of 64GB or 128GB of on-board storage, the Google TV Streamer only has 32GB. That's a vast improvement over the 8GB in the Chromecast, of course. But in much the same way 8GB was a bit low back in 2020 when the Chromecast with Google TV launched, 32GB is potentially a bit low today – especially if you want to do more than just stream TV shows and movies, or if you want to expand your app collection with more streaming apps.
Although the Google TV Streamer is of course being pitched as a TV streamer, the Google TV platform supports thousands of apps including fitness apps, music apps, sports apps, news apps and more – if you have videos stored on a driver you want to be able to play any time, this can unlock that potential.
The only real downside to using external storage is that the Google TV Streamer is a set-top box rather than a hidden device like a TV stick – and that means adding a USB dongle and drive may well detract from its simple good looks. But you don't buy a Google TV Streamer so you can look at the hardware; it's all about what's on screen.
As for the Apple TV 4K, while you can't connect a USB drive directly there is a workaround: you can connect one to your iPhone or iPad and AirPlay content from it. But there's no way to increase the available storage; the Apple TV was designed as a receiver, with content coming either directly over the internet, through Home Sharing on your local wired (on the 128GB model) or wireless network, or over AirPlay.
