Tv manufacturers have been so bad at making "smart" TVs that they basically created a market for these dongles/sticks.
I have a chromecast already and with it finally the living room seemed less obsolete .... The only function usable of my smart tv was Skype.
Fucking Smart TVs are disgusting. They boot slow (no channel/AV changing right away). The one redeemable feature is the ability to right click videos on your laptop and throw them to the TV. Everything else is a fucking disaster. Just team up with Google or Windows and be done with it.
Ever since my first exposure to a Smart TV device (PS3 being my first example) I've thought "Why fuck around with all this compatibility shit when you could just run Windows and have everything work". Then Dumb Smartish TVs happened (USB media playback but no internet) and the problem persisted, then Apple TV and Smart TVs happened and the problem persisted.
Hooking up my laptop was somewhat of a solution but always a hassle plus I ofyen like to browse on my laptop while I watch stuff.
The less said about the PS4 the better.
Then I got my own Smart TV which somehow had a shitter UI than the downstairs TV. Miracast from my Z3 to TV is an abomination.
Then I recently got a Chromecast thinking that was the be all and end all, but even that has fucking codec limitations (I thought Android was all about fucking freedom?). Admittedly the Chromecast has been the best example so far (casting flash video is amazing, tried it for the first time today and it was surprisingly smooth).
But after all that noise, all I needed was a Windows tablet or stick hooked up to my TV. No fucking about, everything I can do on my laptop media-wise, every program etc. can run perfectly. I honestly should have looked into it before, I didn't know such an affordable Windows tablet like the Linx existed.
And then this would be the end. The ultimate Smart TV solution. No more fuckeries.