Here’s a couple things to consider.
The best time of year to buy a TV is in late January. The Consumer Electronics show ends Jan 12 this year and when all the corporate buyers return they start trimming inventory down to make room for the new shiny.
Avoid the new shiny. You will pay a significant premium for the latest buzz word trendy whatever it is. Sometimes the manufacturers will pick a somewhat relevant feature like the refresh rate and then fall all over themselves to put a bigger misleading number on the box than the next guy. But sometimes the new shiny is just stupid too, remember 3D TVs? This year it’s going to be all about HDR.
I still don’t like the Smart TV concept. The underlying technology is moving too fast and your display should have a much longer life than the “smart” bits. My current TV is a Samsung smart that I used exactly once before I plugged my Apple TV in. Given the huge amount of options under $100 like the chrome cast, roku and fire tv I just don’t see the point of tying yourself to the built in. Tough to avoid buying one now but don’t be surprised if you aren’t using it in 6 months.
Match your TV to your content. There’s no point in buying a fancy 4K HDR tv if it’s going to be plugged into a 3 year old Shaw box. If you’re going to buy a new Apple TV and only want to watch their HDR content then giver but don’t pay a premium now for a feature you can’t use for 2 years.
If you paid more than $6 for an HDMI cable then you overpaid. I can’t understand why the fancy cable thing lingers but it’s absolute bs. Margins on TVs are super thin, retailers are making their profits on overpriced cables and ridiculous warranties.
I would keep an eye out for a Samsung MU6100 on sale. You should be able to find one for about 1k. It’s not as nice as the LG C7 but that C7 will be about 1k in 2 years.
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