Best Smart TVs In 2021

Toshiba wins this one by a thin margin, despite only being 720p—don’t worry, we’re going to cover exactly why it stole the top spot. Toshiba’s intuitive design is not only the easiest to use, it includes Fire TV, giving you access to Prime Video, as well as a ton of other streaming services to get the most out of your viewing experience. Tons of smart TVs come with Fire TV, but not for this price range, and with an agreeable 32” screen size. You know as well as I do that when you get into 32” televisions, you end up fighting for screen space over the bezel. Well, in this case, it’s the perfect amount of bezel without being too encroaching. It’s a solid picture.

Including 3 HDMI cable ports as well as a single USB hookup, with Toshiba LED HD Smart TV you also get the option to plug in your hardwired ethernet cable for a much more stable connection. This is huge, even though you’re not going to be streaming 4K pictures on this screen. Streaming services dedicate a lot of bandwidth to keep the speeds in good standing, but on a slower internet package (40mbps or lower) in your household, which is also running your phone, laptop and console, a hardline connection is going to make it much easier to maintain good streaming speeds.

Insignia paired up with Amazon to include Alexa built right into Insignia 4K Ultra HD LED Smart TV, and it comes with some good features, but a few difficulties ahead. To start, you have three screen sizes to choose from, but the most bang for your buck comes from the 43” model, which includes all the dynamic features you’re looking for. If you’re a console gamer, HDR brings your game to the next level and competes with imagery that PC players always brag about.

Couple that with the LED-backlit screen and 4K UHD display, and you’ve got something truly fantastic. When it comes to using Alexa, it works well for the built-in Fire TV features, but it has a really hard time syncing with your Echo or Echo Dot (moreso that Dot than anything else). It means that sometimes, you might not be able to command your Echo Dot to actually change the channel or put on a specific show for you. You might have to repeat yourself.

TCL is rarely the first pick anyone has for a TV, but over the years, they’ve been putting out some really impressive televisions. TCL 4K LED Smart TV comes in a full 50” display with a small bezel, giving you as much potential viewing area as possible. While you can choose whatever you like, there’s an option to get this just as a TV, or you can upgrade it to a 2.1 channel soundbar that comes with your package. That’s up to you.

You can enact Amazon Alexa to help you voice-control your television, so you can call out the show and episode that you want to watch from the other room while you fix a snack. Just to be clear, this comes as a 50” display, but you can upgrade to a 75” display if you see fit, it just amplifies the issues that we’re about to discuss, which is why we went with the 50”.

Samsung continues to run some of the smoothest pictures that you could imagine, and it’s for this that they’re always going to be one of the top dogs. They’ve had a lot of versions of this different TV, and even though this is their 4K UHD Smart TV 2019 model, it comes with a few issues to be on the lookout for.  For one, if you’re sick of trying to punch things in on that little remote that they give you, you can’t even connect your ergonomic keyboard and mouse to this TV. Well, they say you can, but the wireless compatibility options are few and far between. You’re going to run into problems with it.

If you’re a console gamer, you might want to flip on HDR on your PS4 to get the best possible quality. HDR on the Samsung not only fails to communicate with the PS4 that it even has an HDR mode but if you just flip it on for television viewing purposes, it provides little to no difference in the picture quality.

Sony will always be one of the masters of electronics, and with their Bravia 4K TV, they’re not far off the mark. They include HDR so you can use it with your Sony PS4 system with ease, and the color resolutions (8 million self-illuminating pixels) give you every potential viewing angle you could ever want from your PlayStation system.

There’s a voice-activated remote control that comes with your unit, which can hook up to Roku TV or Amazon Alexa, depending on what you have. In terms of versatility, it’s good for whatever you hook it up to, and that’s what Sony is good at. When it comes to the actual picture quality, it’s flipping astounding. It’s just about as immersive as it gets (a close second to that Samsung above), making it a truly rich viewing experience on this 50” screen. This Sony 4D LED TV itself acts as a stand because you can fold out the back (power supply) to place your TV. It even has a built-in subwoofer system.

Everything you get nowadays comes with Amazon Alexa built right in, and LG has taken to that trend with their UHD TV. It’s Amazon certified to work with Alexa, but it also works with LG’s own AI system. Unfortunately, that AI is underdeveloped, making it difficult to really sync up with your other LG AI products and make recommendations based on the right information.

However, when it comes to the actual picture, this Alexa-enabled smart device gives you what you expect LG would: the immersive picture with a high-end UHD level of quality. You’ll be glued to the screen from the moment you sit down.

I really expected VIZIO to rank higher on the list, but it was up against some fierce competition. They came very close to being near the top, especially when you factor in the HDR settings for more immersive gaming and movie viewing.

However, the 4K resolution wasn’t enough to set VIZIO M-Series Quantum 55” HDR Smart TV higher. You have a really bright screen thanks to the UltraBright 600 hardware, which makes it fantastic to view… from the right angle. If you stand at a different angle, the screen doesn’t get dark, but you notice the LED light pouring out from the sides.

Hisense is probably the last brand you expected to see here. They’re known for their budget-friendly options, but on the flip side, they make some high-powered smart TVs. Built with Roku right in your unit, Hisense delivers excellent 4K through a 43” display, with the option to upgrade to larger screen sizes. The main attraction of Hisense 43” 4K Ultra HD Smart TV w/ Roku TV here is the zero screen bleed coupled with the high dynamic range mode. It makes for an excellent viewing experience.

Where it falls flat is the low-interference Wi-Fi connectivity. You don’t even see it marketed as a main feature in most smart TVs, so we put it to the test, and found that it’s actually pretty easy to interfere with. You can lose connection pretty easily if the TV is far from your wireless router.

Sceptre was a brand that honestly shocked me when I opened it up. I’ve seen Sceptre TVs before, but they were always budget picks that just didn’t fit the bill quite right. Well, they turned the tide with this smart TV model. You get a high-end 1080p display with zero bleeding. Normally, when you bump an LED TV up a bit (around 80-90% or so), you can see where the light starts coming through on the edges. Not with Sceptre FSR Smart TV.

Between that and a 60hz refresh rate, it’s ideal for most movies and console gaming, even on “pro” console models. While you don’t have HDR, flickering and screen lag is also virtually non-existent. It’s a shame that you have to share one of your HDMI port slots with the same as an MHL cable, but it’s the way the cookie crumbles. The only other major complaint here is that it’s heavier than it looks, so it requires an additional wall mount. Our guide to the best streaming TV devices features more amazing products to enhance your home TV experience.

Is Element the first brand you think of when you look at a new TV? No, but they’re also not the last. Element offers a budget-friendly, wildly inexpensive way to get another screen in your house with decent resolution.

I say decent because Element 32 Inch HD Smart TV isn’t technically full HD. It’s not quite what I want for watching movies, but I don’t mind watching some Netflix TV shows on it; it’s a middle-of-the-road solution. What’s odd is that despite it only being able to go up to 720p, there’s a port that supports 1080p.