IMO, htpcs have been obsolete for awhile now. Being able to have extremely low power(silent) front end devices with proper remote control + 10ft apps, voice commands, casting from phones, etc are the obvious choice. Throw a cheap media server somewhere else to record OTA/cablecard broadcasts and/or host a Plex server if that's your bag (shield covers that now, too).

High performance gaming is the only slight reason to still think of hooking up an htpc these days- but shield + Nvidia gamestream mostly gives you the best of both worlds. Emulators are generally good on Android TV now too- but some later generation consoles are only for higher powered machines. For everything besides that- it's really a no brainer unless you get your rocks off on some super niche software you feel you need hooked directly up to your tv.

You could use something like this . I have one myself and I love the broader options of what i can do and how I can customize things to my own experience. You could even sell your HTPC and just get this thing, you might even come out with some money on top.

Unless you sit within 4 feet of the tv save yourself the trouble and skip the 4k.