There are a couple ways to look at the new Fire TV box, the second video-streaming box from Amazon. The first is to say that not much has changed from the first Amazon Fire TV box. In fact, you could look at all of the new video streaming devices announced this fall — Amazon Fire TV, Roku 4, Chromecast 2 and the new Apple TV — and acknowledge, maybe somewhat frustratingly, that the cable box is dying in whimpers but certainly not with a bang.

The second way to look at the second-generation Amazon Fire TV box is to recognize that it has made significant improvements in key areas — things like processing power, video resolution, and virtual assistance. Is it the platonic form of a video streaming box that attaches to your TV? No, it still favors its own Prime video content over most other streaming content providers, and there are other features I don’t love. Should you rush out to upgrade if you already have last year’s Amazon Fire TV box? Probably not, unless you just bought a 4K TV.

But is the new Fire TV box a good video streaming device for $100? Yes, especially if you’re an Amazon Prime Video subscriber. It’s a great addition to your living room even if you already have a smart TV. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the best new streaming video device; we’ll have to test all the others before we can make that call.

The hard-edged, flat-sandwich Fire TV box looks almost identical to last year’s model, with the exception of a matte finish on top and a couple port changes. There’s no longer an optical audio output in the back. Instead, there’s a microSD card slot, allowing you to add up to 128 gigabytes to the 8 gigabytes already on board. Otherwise the Fire TV has the usual suspects — an HDMI port, an ethernet port, USB, and power. 4K is nice to have, but it comes with limitations One of the most notable adds to this box, in addition to support for 4K video, is a new 64-bit MediaTek quad-core processor, an upgrade from last year’s Snapdragon 600 processor. The new chip, coupled with a GPU that Amazon says is twice as fast as the one in the first-gen box, make this a super-speedy video player. I didn’t experience any lags or stutters as I navigated through the Fire TV’s (sometimes confusing) interface; apps downloaded quickly, videos loaded almost immediately, and at no point in using it over the past week did I feel like it needed a little more oomph. The new Fire TV box also supports 801.11ac Wi-Fi with MIMO, for better Wi-Fi video streaming. I wasn’t able to test the 4K support on the Fire TV because I don’t have a 4K TV, but 1080p HD still looked pretty darn good. All I can say about the 4K support is this: it’s nice to have it, because it future-proofs the box a bit, but there are caveats. Since it requires a specific HDMI input, one that supports a standard called HDCP 2.2, it won’t support every 4K TV. There still isn’t a ton of 4K content to stream, the most obvious exceptions being Netflix 4K, some YouTube stuff, and select content from Amazon’s Prime Video library. And, provided you have a 4K TV, it takes a few clicks of the remote to find 4K or "Ultra HD" video content, unlike on the new Roku 4, which has an option right on the home screen designed specifically to help consumers find 4K video. Alexa might make this a little easier, but again, she won't show you the 4K content unless you're using a 4K TV.