I’m not sure everyone has noticed, but our TV is tiny. Some of you have definitely noticed—you’ve laughed and commented that we’re long overdue for an upgrade. As the resident guy in the house, I have to agree. Our little 26-inch set made sense in our old place, where the den was so narrow I could practically change the channel with my toe.
Now that our current living room has more space (we miss the cozy feeling of our first room but appreciate extra room for Clara to play), we often find ourselves saying, “We really need a bigger TV.” Subtitles, news tickers, or watching a movie with friends quickly reveal how small our screen is—reading anything requires standing up and walking halfway across the room. Still, a new TV kept getting postponed despite how much we actually watch.
We heard February and March are prime months to buy a television; after the holidays and the Super Bowl, demand drops and prices can fall. So we waited for the right moment. After researching, consulting my brother-in-law Martin (who had done his own thorough search), and comparing prices, we narrowed the choices down to two 40-ish inch 1080p LCD models available at Target: a Vizio and a Samsung.
Both TVs were similar: LCD panels, full HD resolution, around 40 inches, and strong user ratings on several retail sites. They were energy-efficient models with annual running costs listed at about $17. The size wasn’t chosen by any rigorous formula—it felt right after we measured the space and discussed wanting something noticeably larger without going overboard. So which did we pick?
We opted for the Vizio. It was $100 less expensive and marginally larger at 42 inches, so the choice felt obvious. The sticker price was $449.99, but that wasn’t our final outlay—coupons and cards came into play, as they often do with us.
We chose Target for a few reasons:
- They were running a temporary price reduction, dropping the TV from $479 to $449.
- We have a Target credit card that gives 5% off purchases, bringing the price down to about $427.
- Target sent an additional coupon for 5% off HDTVs to cardholders, reducing the total to roughly $406.
- We applied leftover holiday gift cards, which lowered our final out-of-pocket cost to $356.
The final price felt like a good value, especially since our smaller TV had cost about the same five years earlier. We plan to repurpose the old set in another room or sell it locally.
Bringing the new TV home felt like a small celebration. Burger, our dog, seemed thrilled—at least until he realized the box art featured a talking news anchor. I would have preferred a lively underwater scene or a dynamic nature shot as the showcase image, but the TV performs well regardless of the packaging photo.
Before setting up the new set we took a few comparison shots to capture the upgrade. The old 26-inch looked ridiculously small next to the new screen. The difference was immediate: text and subtitles that used to be a strain to read are now easily legible from the couch.
For safety we secured the TV with the anti-tip cable and anchor hardware that came in the box. We might mount the screen on the wall later once we finalize the layout and decide on an appropriate height, but for now the cable will prevent tipping and keep the setup safe.
This new TV feels like the first step toward updating the whole living area. We’re already thinking about a larger media console with more storage and greater height to better suit the screen. Whether we build something custom or retrofit a thrift-store find, we’ll share the progress.
In the meantime, our squinting days are over and we’re happy to have some favorite shows back on a comfortable-size screen. Anyone else upgrading their TV lately or catching up on good shows? Now that the book shoots are finished, we might finally have time to binge a few series—just don’t spoil The Walking Dead for us; we’re up to date and hoping to keep it that way.