Life, that is. It would just make life a little easier.

It’s not that it’s difficult, it’s just that there is less interacting with the TV keyboard if you use an iPhone/mac/whatever. You can login with a password without any issues.

If you want to avoid transcoding entirely, a Nvidia Shield is probably your best bet as it supports a few more audio codecs and HDMI passthrough that an Apple TV doesn’t support. That being said, the Nvidia Shield is both more expensive and older than an Apple TV. I would argue that an Apple TV has a better overall experience with third party apps, newer hardware, more up-to-date OS, whereas a Shield works best for Plex/jellyfin.

I bought a Nvidia Shield first to replace a Smart TV and Steam Link and was pretty disappointed with my overall experience. I ended up biting the bullet and getting an Apple TV and the only issue I’ve had is that now TrueHD streams are getting transcoded.

Of course, your experience and desires are probably different so would just suggest looking around for what works best for you.

You don’t need an Apple device to login, it just makes things easier.