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I’ve been thinking about the future. I blame it on Back To The Future day. One thing Marty McFly never dreamed of was having almost the entire catalog of television shows and movies available on a whim. The future is a wonderful place.

The folks at streaming device company Roku have also been thinking about the future. The Roku 4, their latest set-top box, anticipates a world of 4K video—one which isn’t quite a reality yet, but seems to be coming.

4K video takes 1080p high-definition to the extreme, quadrupling the resolution to 3840 x 2160. It will look amazing just as soon as you buy a television or computer monitor capable of displaying that many pixels. Combined with the fact that there’s not many shows or movies being streamed in 4K, most of us won’t care about the 4K features of the Roku 4 right now. We probably will in the future, though.

But let’s live in the present. In the here and now, the Roku 4 is a lightning fast streaming box that offers the biggest selection of streaming content.

WHAT’S BETTER

The Roku 4 has a lot going for it. Here are some features that will really make a difference in how you watch streaming shows and movies:

The speed you need: The new box features a much faster processor and more RAM than the Roku 3, its previous flagship model. It needs that brawn to handle 4K video, but it also makes watching HD great. Every action you take—like launching a new channel or pressing play to start a stream—happens a couple of seconds more quickly. That might not seem like much, but just think of the number of times you start a stream. Now multiply that by two seconds. The Roku 4 just gave you back entire days of your life.
Strong and sharp: The R4 has improved wireless connectivity, using 802.11ac. As a result I never had any issues with buffering while I watched. And even better, the picture displayed better depth and crispness than the Roku 3. And, yes, 4K looks amazing—especially up close. The sharpness and colors it produced on Monoprice’s 28-inch UHD Select Series 4K monitor blew away regular old 1080p.
Awesome software: The latest version of the Roku software improves on the universal search of previous generations. You can search for a show or a movie and the app shows you the channels that offer it—listing the cheapest options first. If you can’t find a video, you can set the Roku to regularly search for it and alert you when it becomes available. It also includes voice search, although Amazon’s version works better.

WHAT’S WORSE

More expensive: At $130, the Roku 4 is $30 more than Amazon’s latest Fire TV, which also does 4K and is better at games. And, of course, you can get a Google Chromecast for $35. But the cheaper streaming sticks can’t deliver this kind of speed and picture quality.
Bigger: For years, streaming boxes were shrinking until they fit onto a stick you can plug into your TV. The Roku 4 is three inches wider and deeper than the Roku 3. At 6.5 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches, it’s still not large, but it will take up more shelf space. That’s the cost of the improved horsepower inside.

WHO SHOULD BUY ONE?

If you watch a lot of different streaming channels, the Roku’s for you. It has 3,000 channels, though most of us will only watch 20 of those. More importantly, it doesn’t lock you into a digital ecosystem like Apple or Amazon. Roku doesn’t care if you switch among Netflix, HBO, Amazon Video, Prime Video or literally thousands of other options.

However, the focus is strongly on video. New streaming boxes from Apple and Amazon go out of their way to cater to casual gamers. Amazon even offers a $140 gaming edition that comes with a gaming controller. Roku offers some games, but they aren’t easy to use or all that fun.

If you already have a Roku 3 and don’t have a 4K television, you probably don’t need to upgrade yet. The latest software features are available through a free update. But if you have an older Roku or find that your streaming stick is too slow, going for the Roku 4 delivers a great experience now and you’ll be ready for the 4K resolution revolution, whenever that arrives.

[You can buy the Roku 4 at Amazon.com, on Roku.com or other online retailers]