Best Buy 40 Smart Tv
Operating system: 40-inch, 42-inch and 43-inch TVs didn't always come with a smart TV operating system in the past but they often do now. What you're looking for, ideally, is a well-maintained operating system like Roku TV, LG's webOS or Samsung's Tizen operating system. If you go with a TV that uses a proprietary operating system (basically an operating system exclusive to that one TV) you might have some serious issues down the road.
best buy 40 smart tv
After dropping in price dramatically during the sales season, the LG C2 is absolutely our pick as the best 40- to 43-inch TV. Its mix of high-end features and elite image quality for a reasonable price is just unmatched, and it's brighter than almost anything else at this size.
You might notice that there aren't very many of the best OLED TVs in the list below. That's because smaller OLED panels are still difficult for manufacturers to make without lots of waste, and that means they're still quite expensive to create. LG appears to have cracked the problem with its very impressive 42-inch C2, but you'll find that the bulk of the best TVs at this size don't yet use OLED.
With the BU8500 Samsung has set out to deliver a superb all-rounder for a very affordable price, and we think it's achieved exactly that. For a relatively small price you're getting 4K HDR (albeit without Dolby Vision), three HDMIs, voice control, two remote controls and all the apps you might want. It's not up there with the very best TVs that cost many times more, but it delivers much better picture quality than you'd expect at this price. The only real downside is that its speakers are very weedy, but at this price you can afford to add a decent soundbar.
It's not the best TCL TV on the planet, but if you're limited to a 40-inch TV and want to have hundreds of streaming channels at your fingertips, the TCL 4-Series Roku TV is a smart bet and a very good value.
This is a great value television, and the Roku TV platform is always a joy to use thanks to its sleek interface, well-organised tile icons and broad app support. But as a 4K HDR TV it struggles a little bit with SD or HD; it's best connected to high-resolution sources. We weren't impressed by the audio, either: it's pretty clear where some corners have been cut to keep the price so low.
The Samsung Q60B QLED TV starts from a much cheaper price than Samsung's other QLED sets, but despite the low price its spec sheet includes Quantum Dot colors, a comprehensive smart TV system, and Samsung's Object Tracking Sound technology.
Picture quality starts well, with the Q60B producing more brightness and Quantum Dot-inspired color punch than the vast majority of cheap TV rivals. Its playback of native 4K sources is also impressively crisp most of the time, too. It doesn't miss out compared to the best 4K TVs for Ultra HD content.
As with 4K, it's now hard to buy a TV that doesn't have a smart platform packed with streaming apps. Almost every TV will have Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ on board, and Apple TV (which is great for pay-as-you-go movies as well as the Apple TV+ subscription service) is becoming increasingly common, too.
But for many people, a 65-inch TV is too big and even 50 inches is a stretch. That's where the best 40-inch, best 42-inch and best 43-inch TVs come in. Lest we forget, just a few years ago this was considered large for a television, and a TV in one of these sizes can still be fairly cinematic without turning your lounge into a multiplex.
If you are a gamer, it's also worth considering the next-gen gaming features of your prospective new TV. Xbox Series X and PS5 gamers can gain a competitive advantage on certain games if their TV supports 4K 120Hz, while VRR support can result in a smoother gameplay experience. ALLM, meanwhile, simply ensures that you automatically get the best visual experience from both games and movies / TV shows. If you are a more casual gamer or not a gamer at all, you can pretty much disregard these features, and it's likely that doing so will save you a lot of cash.
It's now common to find 4K on 40, 42 and 43-inch sets, even at the budget end, and support for HDR formats (including HDR10+ and even Dolby Vision in some cases) is usually included, too. Peak brightness and colour depth are often a bit limited with cheaper models, though, so it's generally best not to expect a dazzling HDR performance unless you're prepared to spend quite a lot of money.
We don't accept the out-of-the-box settings that a TV comes in either. While we intentionally don't go down the route of professional calibration (you shouldn't have to have your TV professionally calibrated in order to get the best out of it), we do spend hours adjusting settings using a mixture of test patterns and real-world content until we are sure we're getting the most out of a TV so that it has the best chance to shine.
From all of our reviews, we choose the best products to feature in our Best Buys. That's why if you take the plunge and buy one of the products recommended above, or on any other Best Buy page, you can be assured you are getting a What Hi-Fi? approved product.
More affordable than their larger siblings, the best 40-inch TVs make it a little more affordable to get the best new features. They also make it possible to spend a lot less money if you just want something that works. As always, we recommend picking a TV that fits your space. For a lot of people, what manufacturers call small, we call the perfect size.
Although most manufacturers and buyers are focusing on larger TVs, there's still a lot of interest in smaller models for people looking for the best 43-inch 4k TV. There aren't as many options available in this size range as larger sizes, but there are still some premium models as well as cheaper TVs available. It's easier to look for a 43-inch TV because it's a more common size than 40 inches, and there are some 42-inch OLEDs coming out. Unfortunately, there are very few 40-inch TVs on the market, so if you're looking for the best 40-inch TV, you'll have a wider selection available if you can fit a 42 or 43-inch model instead.
We've bought and tested more than 380 TVs, and below are our recommendations for the best TVs available in 42, and 43-inch sizes available to buy. See our picks for the best small TVs, the best smart TVs, and if you want something bigger, the best 55-inch TVs. Most brands will start releasing their 2023 lineups soon, so make sure to vote on which ones you want us to buy and test first. If you want to find out more about the 2023 models, check out our 2023 TV lineup page.
The best 42-inch TV we've tested is the LG OLED42C2PUA or the LG C2 OLED for short. It's a fantastic TV overall that looks amazing in any viewing environment. It delivers superb picture quality thanks to its near-infinite contrast ratio, and it has a superb selection of additional features. Its built-in webOS smart interface has a massive selection of streaming apps, making it a superb choice for a dorm or other small space. Although we tested the 65-inch model as a TV, we also bought and tested the 42-inch version as a monitor.
The best upper mid-range 43-inch TV we've tested is the Samsung QN43QN90BAFXZA, also known as the Samsung QN90B QLED. It's an impressive TV that we tested as a monitor, as the smaller size offers a few extra features for PC gamers, including a higher 144Hz refresh rate for smoother motion handling than comparable 120Hz displays. It delivers an impressive gaming experience overall, but it has a noticeably slower response time than the LG C2 OLED, so you'll see more blur and ghosting around fast-moving objects if you're planning on playing fast-paced games.
If you want something cheaper than the Samsung QN90B QLED without sacrificing too much, the Sony KD-43X85K is the best 43-inch TV in the mid-range category. While its picture quality isn't nearly as good as the LG, it has many of the same gaming features like HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, which is great if you want to take full advantage of the PS5 or Xbox Series X, as it supports 4k @ 120Hz gaming. Sony TVs are also known to have good processing features, and this one is no exception, as the accuracy before calibration is fantastic and upscaled content looks great.
Its built-in Tizen smart interface is very easy to use and has a huge selection of streaming apps, so you can easily find your favorite content. The mic in the remote gives you access to Google Assistant, Bixby, and Alexa, so you can choose the voice assistant you prefer. One of the downsides of this TV is that while it displays a wide range of colors in HDR, its HDR peak brightness is just okay, so it doesn't deliver the best HDR experience, but that's what you have to expect for a TV in this price range.
For those on a budget, the Amazon 4K43M600A, also known as the Amazon Fire TV Omni Series, is a good choice as the best 43-inch TV at a low cost. It's a rather basic TV that doesn't have the bells and whistles of some higher-end models like the Samsung Q60/Q60B QLED, but it's good for what it is as an entry-level 4k TV. It comes with the Fire TV smart platform, which is easy to use and makes navigating through the menus feel smooth. There are tons of apps to download, and the built-in mic on the remote gives you access to Alexa voice assistant, making it easy to open apps and search for content. 041b061a72