Replace Apple TV

I guess it comes down to convenience vs sound quality. 

I believe JRiver software will play video on your laptop. You can get a free trial with them, too.

• I believe JRiver software will play video on your laptop. You can get a free trial with them, too.

YouTube sounds terrible. If you only watch YouTube or listen to low res online radio stations, save your money on on any streamer.

There are ways to get video from your laptop to a tv and audio from your laptop to an external dac, no need for a streamer, your computer is the streamer.

Also, the statement that a dedicated streamer is better than a dedicated pc/Mac. What is a dedicated streamer? It’s a proprietary piece of hardware, OS, and some software. There are many apps like Roon/pure music/audirvana that equal and surpass an external streamer. 
If you want to improve your sound, stop using USB and get a good dac with i2s or Ethernet 

I have yet to see a YouTube audio that is encoded to something better than 135kbps Opus.

So it is always lossy and with tiny bitrate (Opus 51/61/135kbps and AAC 96/127kbps), even if the clip title says otherwise.

AFAIK there is no way for the uploader to control the sound quality. Whatever original you publish, YouTube will automatically compress it to various resolutions and data rates, to be able to provide image and sound to various network devices and -conditions.
If anyone knows of a source or way to get qualiy audio from YouTube, I would appreciate a hint.
Here is an example of available renderings of a random clip from YouTube, titled "[HQ-FLAC] Madonna - La Isla Bonita"