If you’re thinking of checking out the best Black Friday TV deals this year for an upgrade to your existing TV set, there are two big questions you need to think about: how much of a difference are you really going to notice; and how much do you need to spend to see a difference that’s really worth having?
The answers to these questions will depend on your old TV’s age, its size, and its screen tech. I can’t possibly cover every model here, so I’m going to offer a crash course on what you can broadly expect in terms of upgrades, depending on which year you last bought a TV, and tell you which new models to look out for that will deliver what you’re looking for.
The best TVs have taken big leaps over the last few years, in everything from brightness to gaming features to how good the smart TV software is. I oversee all of TechRadar’s TV coverage, helping to compare and test TVs with our reviewers, and deciding what goes into our buying guides. I get eyes-on experience of how everything changes each year, so here’s my cheat sheet on how to buy smart in the Black Friday deals this year, based on the year you bought your current TV (up to 2022, because if you bought in 2023 and are looking to upgrade now, you’re surely a bit beyond needing a cheat-sheet), and then on the type of TV you have.
Most people probably have a TV that’s five years or older, but the last four years have been so huge for screen-tech improvements that I can basically group anything from 2020 or before into one big pot. Upgrade from one of those models and you’ll get immediately clearly better image quality, much slicker software, and more gaming features.
QLED
Let’s start with the hottest tech of the era: QLED… and QLED variations, including LG NanoCell and Samsung‘s Triluminos TVs, which all have essentially the same quantum dot tech. Samsung’s popular mid-range QLEDs before 2020 had a direct backlight with local dimming, which enabled them to hit around 1,000 nits of peak HDR brightness – this means that in small bright areas they could reach a temporary brightness measured at around 1,000 nits. This was the best LED technology of the time, and it went into some excellent-value TVs, such as the Samsung Q80R or the Sony X900E/XE9005.
Today, we have mini-LED instead of the regular LEDs in those backlights, and many of the best mini-LED TVs are cheaper than those 2019 Samsung/Sony sets were, even in bigger sizes. The likes of the Hisense U8N can cruise past 2,000 nits, while also handling the division between light and dark areas better than those old TVs could. If you were to upgrade from a TV that cost around $1,000 / £1,000 five years ago to one around the same price today, you’d be able to get something with far more vibrant colors, more cinematic contrast, and in a larger screen size – and with next-gen 4K 120Hz gaming features, too. Check out the Hisense U8N, the Hisense U7N, the TCL QM851G (US only) and the TCL C855 (UK only).
