Do I want an external monitor or a smart TV?

June 24, 2022 2:02 PM

I want to stream movies on a bigger screen then my chromebook and also plug in my work laptop. Not looking for anything huge and dont particularly care about picture quality except that a wide viewing angle would be great. I have horrible slow internet and don’t want to do anything that might slow it down further. Other major priorities are easy to connect with minimal fiddling and negotiating of menus.
posted by genmonster to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

No answer but my bargain Inspiron was great until it started losing lip sync, maddening, got better but impossible to know if that's updates or other network issues. A quality Roku with good buffering may be the answer, they are invested in net quality.
posted by sammyo at 2:15 PM on June 24, 2022

I am the sort of person who keeps consumer electronics for as long as they keep running, so to the end I'd say you ever want a "smart" TV. Buy a monitor, and if you later decide you want "smart TV" kinds of streaming features, get a Google Chromecast or whatever the basic streaming stick of the moment is.

And the only compatibility thing I've run into recently is whether the computer outputs "Display Port" or "HDMI", and what the appropriate cable is based on that.
posted by straw at 2:43 PM on June 24, 2022

I think you want a monitor with some assumptions/ caveats. First, you don't care about watching over air/ cable TV. Second when you say you want to plug in your work laptop, you want to view emails/ Office documents as well as movies. Third, you are looking for a relatively small / modest screen size for 2022 standards. A monitor will be more expensive for the size compared to TVs and will have worse viewing angles, and may need a soundbar. However, many consumer smart TVs have bloated software (including ads) and questionable privacy settings.
posted by oceano at 2:47 PM on June 24, 2022

How to Turn Off Smart TV Snooping Features

Ads in Smart TVs
posted by oceano at 2:53 PM on June 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'd get a 27", 2560x1440 monitor. I've always had good luck with Dell - something like this would probably suit you fine, but you can go up or down a peg if you want some particular feature, or no speakers built in, etc.

IPS is the type of display you want, don't worry too much about sync methods and other fanciness. Double check that it has the right ports - HDMI is probably what Chromebooks put out, but just make sure it'll work with what you've got. You should be able to plug it in and go.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 2:55 PM on June 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

Unless you have external speakers and don't care, be aware that many monitors' speakers are garbage compared to even most cheap TVs, so pay attention to what reviews say about the sound quality if you go the monitor route.

A lot of smart TVs are adding unsavory things like ads or selling information about your viewing habits (and have pretty terrible user interfaces), so I personally stay away from them other than my Roku enabled TCL.
posted by Candleman at 8:18 PM on June 24, 2022 [1 favorite]

We bought a 32" Visio 5 or more years ago. We use it mostly for cable, but I've connected it to an ancient laptop as well. It has multiple HDMI inputs, so plugging two "source" devices is not a problem, and the switch between them is a few clicks on the remote.

I think there was some some setup with the Visio when it was new. Not sure it was actually required.

In my experimentation, I bought a Chromecast. I got it to work with little trouble, but found it didn't work with streaming Amazon video. I guess that's an Amazon vs Google thing. Annoying because that's exactly what I wanted to do. But, really, the only thing the Chromecast does is to allow the laptop to be on the other side of the room from the screen without a long cable connection.

The screen size vs viewing distance vs resolution question is complicated. Live TV, especially sports, have changed their habits. Text on the screen is now in a size for a 50" screen watched from livingroom distance.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:13 AM on June 25, 2022

Last year, I bought a 32” TV from Costco for $125. It has Roku built in.

I have my MacBook plugged into it and use it for work on a daily basis. We also use it as the family TV and watch things like Hulu, NetflixX HBO max, etc. on it. It works great and setup took five minutes.
posted by zooropa at 8:07 AM on June 25, 2022

A monitor will be more expensive, won’t have speakers (unless you pay more), won’t have a remote and will have less HDMI ports.

Personally I’d get a smart TV and, when it’s no longer supported, get whatever streaming service (Apple TV, Roku, Firestick, etc) suits your needs at the time.
posted by mr_silver at 3:33 AM on June 26, 2022

My OLED TV has way better wide angle viewing than my previous TV. OLED all the way for viewing quality, in my opinion.
posted by J. Wilson at 11:18 AM on June 26, 2022