Once the YouTube site came up (2+ seconds) the video begain playing less than 2 seconds later. It finished loading at 2:29 into the playback, and played flawlessly all the way through.

SWMBO's Vita-Mix blender has proven to be quite satisfactory, very powerful and effective. The variable-speed rheostat failed after about 10 years, and their customer service was outstanding. When they found I lived in Mexico, they waived their normal requirement to return the blender for that particular repair and sent me the part with detailed instructions.

I'm not sure I would evaluate a blender based solely on how well it pulverizes an apple. That is an odd task that is obviously affected by the shape of the container and how the apple bounces around in it, and for all we know an "apple-compatible" shape might well be disadvantageous for more normal blending tasks. I think other real-world tests might better indicate true performance.

tanstaafl.