I am not a fan of Apple but I completely agree. I was a home automation programmer for years and that included AV.
Personally I use a Roku I got for free but AppleTV has unmatched quality and experience for a standalone streaming box.
The only downside is that IP control requires you to set it up as part of your apple home. If you don’t want to do that, you’ll have to use IR and IR control sucks.
I also much prefer the old remote design (without Siri) but that’s just an opinion.