If I hook my laptop up through HDMI connected to my TV and watch shows from it, Is this any different than an android Box/TV hooked up to do the same thing?
If I hook my laptop up through HDMI connected to my TV and watch shows from it, Is this any different than an android Box/TV hooked up to do the same thing?
Quite different, yes.
Hooking up your laptop means you (generally) have a "lean-forward" experience. Meaning you type on your keyboard and use a mouse for input. You also have to navigate your laptop's OS to start applications, services, etc. It's fine if you're just watching a single thing, but it gets cumbersome when you try to use it as an all-around solution. (And that's not counting all the wires and having a laptop sitting out.)
AndroidTV comes in a set-top box (Nvidia Shield TV, etc). This is a small un-obtrusive box that stays hooked up to your TV and provides a 'lean-back' experience (control through a remote control you hold in one hand). It's got a TV-based design user-interface that is made for a remote control.
Can you do everything with your laptop that you could with an Android TV? ... Mostly, yes. But it's not designed for TV's 'lean-back' experience.
Yes. Albeit, neither of those instances are what this sub is about.
UI and input methods
In the end you're watching the same video, but how you get that initiated is going to be pretty different.