I'm looking to replace my old 2019 Samsung TV that finally died. I keep seeing ads for smart TVs with all the streaming apps built in, but I'm wondering if it's worth the extra cost or if I should just get a basic TV and use a Roku stick like before. What's the actual difference in the long run?
Both sides here make solid points, but here's what I'd lean toward: grab a mid-range smart TV and keep a Roku stick anyway as a backup. Your TV's built-in system will get maybe 3-4 years of solid updates before the manufacturer ghosts it, but by then the Roku - which you can swap out for $30-50 - will handle the newer apps. The real hack nobody mentions is that you can disable the TV's smart features entirely and just use external hardware if the built-in stuff starts feeling sluggish or outdated, so you're not locked into whatever the manufacturer decided to stop supporting. You get the clean setup now without the commitment headache later.
A smart TV makes sense if you want something that just works out of the box without extra hardware cluttering your setup. The price difference isn't huge anymore - you're maybe paying $100-200 more for the built-in smarts, and since your TV will sit there for years, that's pretty reasonable. The real advantage is simplicity: no separate device to update, no extra remote, no cables behind the TV getting messy. If you liked using a Roku stick before and don't mind having an extra box, a basic TV plus a new streaming device works fine too, but honestly most people find the all-in-one approach less annoying once they've lived with it.
The real question is whether you trust the TV manufacturer to keep updating their OS in five years - most don't, and that's where the Roku stick wins long term. You'll get security patches and new apps on a standalone device way longer than on the TV's built-in system. If the price difference is genuinely small like the previous answer said, grab the smart TV for convenience, but don't overthink it; a basic TV plus your familiar Roku will work just fine and might actually last you longer without becoming obsolete software-wise.
How often do you actually switch between streaming services or mess with your TV's menu?
That's worth asking because it changes the calculus a bit. The earlier answers nailed the core trade-offs - manufacturer support vs. simplicity - but there's a practical middle ground most people don't think about. Smart TVs have gotten genuinely better at this stuff since 2019. The built-in systems (whether it's Samsung's Tizen, LG's WebOS, or whatever) are way more stable than they used to be, and you'll likely get 4-5 years of app updates rather than the 2-3 years of deeper support people sometimes claim. That's enough for most people's lifespan with a TV.
The real kicker though: even if the TV's smart features eventually get sluggish or stop updating, you're not stuck. You can always plug in a Roku stick later for like $30-50 without it being some emergency backup plan. It becomes more of a "nice to have" than a life raft. With a basic TV, you're already committed to needing external hardware from day one. So grab a mid-range smart TV now (and yeah, the price premium really isn't huge anymore), use it normally, and don't stress about obsolescence. If it gets wonky in five years, you'll throw a stick behind it and move on.
Go with a smart TV if you can find one in your budget - the convenience of not hunting for another dongle is real, and most midrange models these days have decent enough software. The sneaky thing nobody mentions is that even if the TV's built-in apps get sluggish in a few years, you can always plug in that Roku stick anyway and just ignore the TV's menus entirely, so you're not locked in. That gives you the best of both worlds without extra upfront cost if the smart TV price gap is small. I'd skip the cheapest models though, since the software tends to be awful on those, but anything in the $400-600 range usually handles streaming fine for several years.
Log into answer.
