The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the most powerful streaming stick in the Fire TV family — but is it worth the extra cash over the regular Fire TV Stick 4K? Streaming devices are everywhere these days. There are boxes and dongles from Amazon, Google, Roku, Apple, and others. They all serve the same general purpose, albeit with slightly different features and a wide variety of price tags. This is great for consumer choice; however, it can make the buying process a bit complicated at times.
A prime example of this can be found just within Amazon's own lineup of streaming hardware. Under its Fire TV family, Amazon sells the Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick Lite, Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max, and Fire TV Cube — just to name a few. Among all of those, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max and Fire TV Stick 4K stand out as two of the most interesting options. Both look the same, have almost identical features, and there's just $5 separating them. For folks who can afford the slightly higher price, stepping up to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is money well-spent.
Before digging into the subtle differences, let's talk about what's the same. Regardless if someone buys the Fire TV Stick 4K or the 4K Max, they're in for a virtually identical streaming experience. Both streamers are capable of 4K resolution, HDR, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos. They also run the same Fire TV OS software. Each Fire TV Stick has the same interface, settings menus, app selection, etc. At a glance, it'd be nearly impossible to distinguish any real difference between the two (outside of a few app shortcut buttons on the Fire TV Stick 4K Max's remote).
Why The Fire TV Stick 4K Max Is Worth An Extra $5
While the core experience is mostly the same, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max does make good use of its steeper asking price. Perhaps the most substantial difference is with performance. On its own, the regular Fire TV Stick 4K performs just fine. It has a 1.7GHz CPU, 650MHz GPU, and 1.5GB of RAM. For navigating the Fire TV interface, browsing streaming apps, etc., the Fire TV Stick 4K is perfectly adequate. That said, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max is better in every way. It has a 1.8GHz CPU, 750MHz GPU, and 2GB of RAM — all resulting in a 40 percent performance boost over its cheaper sibling. Amazon also touts "faster app starts and more fluid navigation while switching between apps and searching for content," further reinforcing that the Max variant does its name justice.
But that's not all. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max also impresses with its wireless connectivity. It's the first and only Fire TV Stick with Wi-Fi 6, giving it smoother and more reliable streaming in a home with numerous connected devices. You do need a Wi-Fi 6 router to benefit from these upgrades, but if not, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max works just fine with older routers too. Last but not least, the better horsepower and connectivity of the Fire TV Stick 4K Max also enables a new feature called 'Live View Picture-in-Picture.' If someone has security cameras/doorbells, Live View Picture-in-Picture allows them to see a live feed of that camera on their TV — right on top of the show/movie they're currently watching.
This is one of those rare comparisons with a straightforward answer. The Fire TV Stick 4K is still a sold streamer for its $50 asking price, but unless that extra $5 is stretching someone's budget, it's absolutely worth going with the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. It has a faster processor, better graphics, more RAM, and newer Wi-Fi connectivity. They may not be game-changing upgrades, but the better internals will perform much better today, tomorrow, and a couple of years down the road. As such, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max easily wins this battle.
Source: Amazon