One of the great privileges of being a technology chronicler is gadgets. They are not free devices, yes, absolutely no one seems to love me enough to bribe me directly, but rather borrowed devices. The smart televisions, the speakers, the vacuum cleaners, the virtual reality headsets that are put in our hands just long enough to love them, hate them and check them out before they are atrociously taken away.
However, this complicates the acquisition of our devices. As a longtime editor of TechRadar's Home Cinema, every couple of weeks new TV screens arrived at my apartment and, frequently, fabulous ones.
If I timed my bingeing right, I could save a few good episodes of Succession or a Blade Runner XNUMX movie night just as a review unit arrived, and settle for more casual viewing on a desktop laptop between TVs. Test. So investing in my always-on-not-always-on screen has been a tempting proposition when the kinds of screens I got to test on a regular basis were worth twice my monthly salary. Why buy something that doesn't measure up to the hottest models that appear so regularly?
It was in this context that I was able to test the LG C1 OLED, which is one of the best televisions of two thousand and twenty-one. I've always had a penchant for LG screens when it comes to OLED, preferring the slight touch of LG color to the more Swedish ones. - if the colors are suitable - shades from Panasonic or Sony. All those years of glowing cartoons have lodged somewhere in my brain, demanding lively images at all costs.
It also helps that there's a forty-eight-inch version of the LG C1 OLED. I have a very specific place in my living room that can accommodate a TV, with a maximum size of forty-eight inches / forty-nine inches, so expanding it is not an option. Having had a forty-eight-inch OLED on my shelf for a few weeks now, I am now persuaded that I need to get on with the business.
Life expectancy
I can't stress enough that I like the forty-eight-inch size option, which makes it considerably simpler for people to install an OLED TV in their home. Countless shelves or countertops too small for a fifty-five-inch can comfortably accommodate its little brother, and especially in tight quarters in townhomes, that kind of auxiliary flexibility can't be overlooked.
The forty-eight-inch OLED is a happy medium, neither a small TV that you have to squint at nor a huge impressive beast that continually pokes into your eye line. Most people don't have dedicated home theater rooms, and it's really possible for a big screen to dominate your living space.
There has been a lot of interest over the years in Samsung's The Frame, a designer-developed first TV that can blend in with the background disguised as a picture frame. And quite a few people choose projectors for exactly the same reason, to reduce the size and clutter of the machines that surround them on a daily basis.
That's why I'm hoping talks about forty-two-inch OLED TVs come as soon as possible, as the general market move toward ever-larger screens is in danger of leaving space-constrained buyers without the chance to try high-end TV technology.
save this assignment
For me, there is a strong psychological barrier to achieving the € one point zero / € one point zero mark (around AU € one point four hundred), where that fourth figure goes beyond the field of rational spending. That's why Black Friday often has so many enticing TV deals, bringing the list cost down to something that fits your budget and prompting you to act immediately. And while the forty-eight-inch LG C1 typically costs €500 / €XNUMX / AU$XNUMX, just over that limit, UK sales have skyrocketed. plummeted to €XNUMX, or even €XNUMX for short periods.
Having missed my chance at this year's sales, eternally shaken by the cost I truly wanted to limit my spending to, I'll be keeping an eye on the cost of OLED TVs in the new year as the 2022 models phase out. . already before the launch of its XNUMX successors.
If the LG C1 drops back to €1, I should go, although I'm tempted to resist a bigger cost drop. If I end up waiting too long, I may need to estimate a bit more affordable options like the LG A100 (today $XNUMX / £XNUMX / AU$XNUMX), which settles for a cheaper processor. and a little more video noise in dark scenes.
The A1 also doesn't have the latest HDMI 1 spec, but as someone who plays primarily on their Nintendo Switch (portable devices forever!), that wouldn't be a huge loss.
That said, if I'm looking for a TV that will last me five to 1 years, I'll want a level of quality that I won't tire of quickly. And those extra €XNUMX for the LG CXNUMX could be the difference between appreciating upgrading in XNUMX or XNUMX. In the end, quality always and in all circumstances is worth it.
This article is part of Tech Resolutions series from TechRadar, a blast of motivational incentives that teaches you how to power your New Year with technology. Running from Sunday December 2022th through Sunday January XNUMXnd, our series will also reveal how we aim to prosper the lives of our devices in XNUMX. So whether you're looking to become a Chromebook power user, Get over your takeout obsession with a fresh take. fryer or use a smartwatch to propel yourself to new fitness heights, we're going to show you how to have a great New Year. And when things inevitably go wrong, the devices can always be blamed.
Today's best deals on LG C1 OLED TVs
