Hello all Bit of a pre-story: I live in China, so my situation might be a bit different from yours, but I hope you can still help me. I recently got a new Sony X900E tv, which comes with android tv. Everything works great, I can download some local streaming apps, the local equivalent of Netflix and what not. But I'm thinking if I should get a mibox. Will it give me anything that the tv itself can't? From what I see from description and comments it has a similar interface, can download the same apps, etc. So my question is, do I even need it? And another question: if I were to buy one, which one should I get? I'm looking at the available boxes and there are two different models both called Mibox 3. One is matte black, roundish, with a black remote (only available at resellers, not available on Xiaomi official account), the one that's also available on Amazon. Another one is what they call "Strong Edition" (pardon my loose translation) - a white roundish square one, doesn't look pretty at all, looks more like a router or something (this is the one available on the official account). Spec-wise they seem to be similar, except that the white one has two USB ports and the processor is [allegedly] six-core instead of quad-core.
The Android TV on your Sony is the same as what is on the Mi Box so I don't see the need for you to get a separate box.
If you still want to get a Mi Box, here is a good post about the differences between the various Xiaomi boxes: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/comments/5zp9pi/the_various_model_numbers_of_xiaomis_collection/
Basically you want the International version (MDZ-16-AB) which is the matte black one you mentioned in your post. Not sure where you are in China, but I know you can get that version at the Xiaomi Mi Home store in Hong Kong.