Samsung announces M8 smart monitor series(news.samsung.com)
news.samsung.com
Samsung announces M8 smart monitor series
https://news.samsung.com/global/samsung-electronics-announces-m8-the-new-and-stylish-smart-monitor-series
66 comments
I recently got rid of a Samsung "smart" TV that I only had for a few years.
It felt as though the UI were intentionally designed to be hostile. Even changing the inputs was not as simple as selecting an HDMI port. The TV had to determine what was connected to it so that it could show a cute icon for it. It also applied preset picture settings for the device, which were often horrible.
After digging through the absolutely nonsensical menus, you could get the picture to look alright. I often had to turn off various enhancers and game modes to make it look remotely reasonable. Too bad it would repeatedly forget the settings every week or so. Even though the display panel itself was quite nice, I had resolved to just having a horrible picture at all times.
I never used the actual connectivity features as I had my own external devices for that. The whole thing was an absolute dumpster fire of a product and it will not be missed. After that, I refuse to even consider any product from Samsung that isn't just a single component in something else (e.g. an SSD). Life is too short.
(and none of this even gets to the various privacy concerns about the company, especially with their TVs)
It felt as though the UI were intentionally designed to be hostile. Even changing the inputs was not as simple as selecting an HDMI port. The TV had to determine what was connected to it so that it could show a cute icon for it. It also applied preset picture settings for the device, which were often horrible.
After digging through the absolutely nonsensical menus, you could get the picture to look alright. I often had to turn off various enhancers and game modes to make it look remotely reasonable. Too bad it would repeatedly forget the settings every week or so. Even though the display panel itself was quite nice, I had resolved to just having a horrible picture at all times.
I never used the actual connectivity features as I had my own external devices for that. The whole thing was an absolute dumpster fire of a product and it will not be missed. After that, I refuse to even consider any product from Samsung that isn't just a single component in something else (e.g. an SSD). Life is too short.
(and none of this even gets to the various privacy concerns about the company, especially with their TVs)
I have a 5 year old Samsung "smart" TV who's "smart" features are basically unusable. It can take nearly 10 seconds for the "home" screen to pop up. This home screen is core to switching inputs, apps, and settings.
It worked just fine 5 years ago. Now, without having done anything, it's slow as heck.
It worked just fine 5 years ago. Now, without having done anything, it's slow as heck.
Have you performed any network traffic analysis? Maybe it attempts to phone home to Samsung or Ciansa and waits for a bunch of timeouts to dead endpoints before continuing.
Price of a Roku, Chomecast, etc are pretty trivial compared to a price of a TV. Just get one of those and don't bother with your TVs "smart" features.
Recommending against a certain brand because their smart TV UX is bad doesn't seem like a good advice anymore because you can entirely replace the "smart" experience with a cheap streaming stick and ignore whatever smart features your TV offers. Some streaming sticks these days are pretty integrated so you can control everything you need with just one remote and don't have to bother with the TV's original remote anymore.
Recommending against a certain brand because their smart TV UX is bad doesn't seem like a good advice anymore because you can entirely replace the "smart" experience with a cheap streaming stick and ignore whatever smart features your TV offers. Some streaming sticks these days are pretty integrated so you can control everything you need with just one remote and don't have to bother with the TV's original remote anymore.
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I have a hard time seeing the appeal in a monitor that isn’t just a display with some integrated peripherals. If I plug it in, it needs to present a picture and connect its webcam and speakers as if they were external and that should be the end of it.
Doing something like Apple is with the Studio Display would probably be ok, but if anything resembling an OS is being surfaced to the user (as Tizen is with these) or the device needs its own wifi connection, something has gone wrong somewhere.
In fact, going the opposite direction I’ve been intently watching BFGDs (big format gaming displays) as a potential source of true dumb TVs with specs that don’t suck.
Doing something like Apple is with the Studio Display would probably be ok, but if anything resembling an OS is being surfaced to the user (as Tizen is with these) or the device needs its own wifi connection, something has gone wrong somewhere.
In fact, going the opposite direction I’ve been intently watching BFGDs (big format gaming displays) as a potential source of true dumb TVs with specs that don’t suck.
Anything with Tizen will be a guaranteed dumpster fire of bugs.
I didn't notice mention of Tizen in the blurb, thanks for catching that.
I didn't notice mention of Tizen in the blurb, thanks for catching that.
On top of the pains of having a 'smart' monitor that has been thoroughly disparaged throughout the thread, this is just not a great monitor.
At 60 Hz the refresh rate is objectively low. Try 120 Hz or higher and attempt to go back. It's unlikely you'll want to.
It's a VA panel, not IPS or OLED, which are really table stakes for a high quality monitor.
The wireless chipset looks like it's fairly old for a device that is just now being announced. No WiFi 6E or BT 5? Really unfortunate.
I can't find any info on it, but considering ~~the wattage for the USB-C port isn't specified or even any mention of PD this doesn't sound like much of a hub~~. My fault, it does say 65 Watts max, which is enough for some ultra books, but you really want 100 watts to be comprehensive.
It also doesn't have HDMI 2.1, which means even if the panel could, the connection couldn't push the pixels for 4k 120 Hz. Certainly not without chroma subsampling.
Overall, an extremely poor value proposition.
At 60 Hz the refresh rate is objectively low. Try 120 Hz or higher and attempt to go back. It's unlikely you'll want to.
It's a VA panel, not IPS or OLED, which are really table stakes for a high quality monitor.
The wireless chipset looks like it's fairly old for a device that is just now being announced. No WiFi 6E or BT 5? Really unfortunate.
I can't find any info on it, but considering ~~the wattage for the USB-C port isn't specified or even any mention of PD this doesn't sound like much of a hub~~. My fault, it does say 65 Watts max, which is enough for some ultra books, but you really want 100 watts to be comprehensive.
It also doesn't have HDMI 2.1, which means even if the panel could, the connection couldn't push the pixels for 4k 120 Hz. Certainly not without chroma subsampling.
Overall, an extremely poor value proposition.
> Additionally, the microphone uses an Always On Voice function, displaying conversation information on screen when Bixby is activated, even if the monitor screen is turned off.
What world we live in for this to be an acceptable selling point?
What world we live in for this to be an acceptable selling point?
Marketing 101, make the buyer think that defects are features.
I have a Samsung “smart” tv as well. I am reasonably tech-savvy. Nowhere in that thing’s box said that it would show me ads in the menu. But it did. I would replace it by a different tv, but honestly no one in the family watches tv any more.
Hard pass. Anything “smart” from Samsung is a nightmare for security and usability after the first year.
Curious, does something change after the first year/warranty runs out? I've bought one from Costco, never connected it to Internet and am using it as a big HDMI display. Aside from the brief prompt to accept the privacy policy when you turn it on, it works just fine. Is it going to change after the first year?
Thank you but no thank you. As it receives OS/app updates it'll inevitably lead to the monitor slowing down to do a basic function like displaying the image coming from the computer. This "smartifying" of everything is getting very frustrating, it happened to TVs and now monitors are next.
It's already hooked to a vastly more powerful computer that can do far more than the bullshit they built in. What's the point other than sending screenshots of your computer usage to marketers?
> sending screenshots of your computer usage to marketers?
That's exactly the point, and it doesn't even matter whether it does that well (or whether any of that data is valuable), as long as marketers keep believing the illusion that it is.
That's exactly the point, and it doesn't even matter whether it does that well (or whether any of that data is valuable), as long as marketers keep believing the illusion that it is.
Smart TV spying on you? Don't worry, buy a monitor instead. It will spy on you, too.
Extra fun:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#HEC
> HDMI Ethernet Channel technology consolidates video, audio, and data streams into a single HDMI cable, and the HEC feature enables IP-based applications over HDMI and provides a bidirectional Ethernet communication at 100 Mbit/s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI#HEC
> HDMI Ethernet Channel technology consolidates video, audio, and data streams into a single HDMI cable, and the HEC feature enables IP-based applications over HDMI and provides a bidirectional Ethernet communication at 100 Mbit/s.
This would require the other HDMI device to be complicit and act as a switch/router. I have yet to see any device supporting this technology at all.
DisplayPort has a usb2 over aux channel mode that similarly sounds awesome & sensible & which seemingly no one ever bothered to implement. :(
That is my worry as well. For now, there are still dumb monitors on the market, but I fear the story with smart TVs will repeat itself.
They don't really want to see what goes on in front of monitors.
>Brightness (Typical): 400 nits
>HDR: Yes (HDR 10+)
>Contrast Ratio: 3,000:1 (Typ.)
Looks like yet another "fake HDR" monitor. Accepts an HDR10 signal, but can't get much brighter than a regular display, and doesn't have any kind of local dimming.
>HDR: Yes (HDR 10+)
>Contrast Ratio: 3,000:1 (Typ.)
Looks like yet another "fake HDR" monitor. Accepts an HDR10 signal, but can't get much brighter than a regular display, and doesn't have any kind of local dimming.
I’m at the point where I see “smart” in a hardware product title and automatically infer “this product comes with prolonged, additional pain, tactfully facilitated by 4th rate usability design, rock bottom grade WiFi hardware, ad bombardment for no discernible reason and never ending “please subscribe” onslaught to whatever new partnership that corporate negotiated this month.
Dumb TV is unambiguously a selling point now.
Dumb TV is unambiguously a selling point now.
It won't have all the ads when you buy it, they'll be put in later once they hit mass market and have your money.
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...
https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=...
Recently bought a Samsung Smart TV for my aged mother.
It was life changing for her.
She watches YouTube mainly; she selects videos of her interest areas using voice (button less remote with Mic). Mainly watches exotic and local travel destinations. Things she has heard of, but never had a chance to go. She particularly likes the intimate, off the beaten track, short solo traveler's videos.
She feels liberated, as she says she is traveling without the need to leave the house (which she cannot due to her age and mobility issues).
Without smart TV this would not have been possible.
It was life changing for her.
She watches YouTube mainly; she selects videos of her interest areas using voice (button less remote with Mic). Mainly watches exotic and local travel destinations. Things she has heard of, but never had a chance to go. She particularly likes the intimate, off the beaten track, short solo traveler's videos.
She feels liberated, as she says she is traveling without the need to leave the house (which she cannot due to her age and mobility issues).
Without smart TV this would not have been possible.
You could have spent 1/20th of the cost on an Apple TV or even a Firestick and she'd have got exactly the same.
Edit: And with an Apple TV it would also not be spying on her 24/7 and sending audio recordings of her private conversations back to Samsung.
Edit: And with an Apple TV it would also not be spying on her 24/7 and sending audio recordings of her private conversations back to Samsung.
Ironically Apple TV, especially the remote, is harder to use. Roku seems to be the best in terms of usability.
I agree. My 80 yo mother in law has stopped using her Apple TV because she is simply unable (or perhaps unwilling) to learn how to use the remote and how to navigate the Apple TV menus. I'm baffled as the Apple TV UI seems intuitive to me, but after spending a lot of time with her, I've realised she is simply just not up to it. Her memory is shot, which doesn't help :-(
At this point, I feel like the “Apple TV remote is hard to use” is an outdated meme. The old remote with the touch surface at the top took some getting used to and is the source of most complaints. But that hasn’t been the standard remote for almost a year now[1]. They’ve moved to a far more “normal” remote that reminds me a lot of the same remote that comes with Samsung TVs.
Plus, with an AppleTV remote, you’re not going to end up with buttons for services that no longer exist or have been rebranded. My parents still have DirectTV Now and Rdio buttons on their Roku remote.
[1]: https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/20/18277449/apple-tv-remote-...
Plus, with an AppleTV remote, you’re not going to end up with buttons for services that no longer exist or have been rebranded. My parents still have DirectTV Now and Rdio buttons on their Roku remote.
[1]: https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/20/18277449/apple-tv-remote-...
I love the new Apple TV remote, but definitely do not buy Roku if you don't want to be spied on.
You seem to be reposting variations of that same comment, not sure what's up with that.
Now to address your point, thinking of the elderly is great, usability is a good point. That being said, Samsung's is absolute garbage designed to boost their advertising business. You can get the same voice-based interface on most Android TVs.
Now to address your point, thinking of the elderly is great, usability is a good point. That being said, Samsung's is absolute garbage designed to boost their advertising business. You can get the same voice-based interface on most Android TVs.
Earlier had posted on wrong parent comment. Rectified it.
The point is usability trumps. The TV is working great, screen and sound is very good. Youtube anyway had ads, and that's OK by her as she expects that when she was watching free to air normal channels.
The point is usability trumps. The TV is working great, screen and sound is very good. Youtube anyway had ads, and that's OK by her as she expects that when she was watching free to air normal channels.
I'll counter your anecdote with mine, that my dad finds his Samsung "smart" TV too confusing to use (without even caring about things like tracking or ads), yet he uses his Virgin Media (UK Tivo-based box) and my Apple TV boxes just fine.
Personally I dislike Samsung TV software for the same reasons as most of the others in this thread, and would rather have a dumb TV. But I do agree with your general point about usability, and would be very supportive of a TV that shipped with basic ability to enable apps such as YouTube, but that did nothing to force use of them on the user, nothing to promote content, nothing to track what people watch, etc.
Personally I dislike Samsung TV software for the same reasons as most of the others in this thread, and would rather have a dumb TV. But I do agree with your general point about usability, and would be very supportive of a TV that shipped with basic ability to enable apps such as YouTube, but that did nothing to force use of them on the user, nothing to promote content, nothing to track what people watch, etc.
Not sure why this is getting downvoted. Yes, we all agree that smart tvs are shipped with adware and tracking. That matters a lot to the HN crowd, but a lot less to typical consumers. This commenter found something which works well for his family and makes them happier than they would be otherwise. Why downvote that?
Facebook has been a blessing for my aging (74) mother, who went from fearing computers to using a tablet and a smartphone to keep in touch with distant relatives. As technophiles we tend to forget how much value these modern curses bring to non-tech people.
Computer monitors are the last bastion of dumb screens, at most they did some post-processing and that was it. I'd certainly never buy this smart TV in disguise.
Can we even buy dumb TVs anymore? I just would never connect "smart tvs" to the internet anyway, but would love to not have all that crap in the menus and such.
Don't worry, now your monitor can be employed in an iot botnet too!
Smart monitor? Does it means it is no longer a "dumb monitor"? I've been thinking of buying monitors to escape the smart tv trend.
A lot of against & some for the smarts here... rather than just steam off & insist tv's need to be dumb, I feel like we need a return to what worked, to the pc era.
Sure Windows 3.1 and beyond were rip roaringly popular but there were always other OS options. We never got locked into unseemly paths. Maybe TV just need to embed small x86 computers, to handle the smart side?
Admittedly there's little actual competition in most os arenas. Apple versus either Microsoft or Google. And Microsoft appears to be going evil, with spyware & adware since their install-base is seemingly unshakeable. But hey, the idea of choice might bring some sunlight to disinfect these situations. Do you want a tv that runs ChromeOS, Android, or GoogleTV? Or webOS or Roku or Tizen? Rather than separate sticks I feel like a real/done well smart tv would have modularity. Alas we just dont expect good things from companies & technology in today's world.
Sure Windows 3.1 and beyond were rip roaringly popular but there were always other OS options. We never got locked into unseemly paths. Maybe TV just need to embed small x86 computers, to handle the smart side?
Admittedly there's little actual competition in most os arenas. Apple versus either Microsoft or Google. And Microsoft appears to be going evil, with spyware & adware since their install-base is seemingly unshakeable. But hey, the idea of choice might bring some sunlight to disinfect these situations. Do you want a tv that runs ChromeOS, Android, or GoogleTV? Or webOS or Roku or Tizen? Rather than separate sticks I feel like a real/done well smart tv would have modularity. Alas we just dont expect good things from companies & technology in today's world.
> choice might bring some sunlight to disinfect these situations [..] Rather than separate sticks I feel like a real/done well smart tv would have modularity.
At that point, why not make the hardware itself modular? The monitor acts as a dumb picture display, controlled by an arbitrary device - a PC, a Roku, ChromeOS, whatever the buyer chooses. And we're back at square one.
The reason manufacturers are moving away from this is because the lack of choice and modularity is the whole point. It lets them push misfeatures onto the user, with no recourse.
At that point, why not make the hardware itself modular? The monitor acts as a dumb picture display, controlled by an arbitrary device - a PC, a Roku, ChromeOS, whatever the buyer chooses. And we're back at square one.
The reason manufacturers are moving away from this is because the lack of choice and modularity is the whole point. It lets them push misfeatures onto the user, with no recourse.
No thanks. We have enough smartness from Samsung TVs and their Mobile phones as it is. It's a shame because their HW is value fo rmoney, it's the software that seems to want to waste your time.
Are there any electronics companies that focus on producing "dumb" devices that just work? Tired of ads and telemetry.
Are there any electronics companies that focus on producing "dumb" devices that just work? Tired of ads and telemetry.
At one point I have to imagine the Apple Studio Monitor was planned to include Apple TV OS support.
I think this actually fills a niche that is underserved in the tv market. It is hard to find a half way decent tv under 40 inches. The upshot is there are a lot of people using an iPad in their kitchen as tv.
I think this actually fills a niche that is underserved in the tv market. It is hard to find a half way decent tv under 40 inches. The upshot is there are a lot of people using an iPad in their kitchen as tv.
I bought the M7 to our office. It was a year ago one of the cheapest 4K 32" displays with USB-C and PD.
Tizen is horrible of course. But some people at our office regret it due to its colours fainted especially with other Samsung, Dell, LG and 5k iMac 27" we've got.
Tizen is horrible of course. But some people at our office regret it due to its colours fainted especially with other Samsung, Dell, LG and 5k iMac 27" we've got.
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I know mac wasn't the first to come up with this sort of monitor shape, but this looks like a lot of them I've used in the past.
Not that it's a bad thing, just an observation.
Not that it's a bad thing, just an observation.
Not a chance in hell I'd have one of these in my home. Or any Samsung product for that matter.
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"Smart" in this sense should be understood as being akin to the archaic term that one is a "smart dresser" -- it's all about style, not about electronic engineering achievements that are leaving anyone in the dust.
Why should it be understood as the archaic usage?
Yes we know. :)
I think it has more to do with the fact that they have touches like the magnetic camera and IoT hub built in (their IoT tech is SmartThings). But I could be wrong.
Sounds like there's more than just an IoT hub built in:
> "... the M8 also allows users to enjoy a variety of OTT services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV via Wi-Fi without having to connect to a PC or TV"
That's a monitor with extensive plans for communicating with the world...
> "... the M8 also allows users to enjoy a variety of OTT services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV via Wi-Fi without having to connect to a PC or TV"
That's a monitor with extensive plans for communicating with the world...
I wouldn't trust anything from Samsung with a camera in it.
I sense that hn does not like Samsung (for some reason?) but Apple recently introduced a monitor with similar (albeit currently unused) computing power.
Personally I think "smart" monitors is the way to go and we will moving away from devices that require a physical connection to your computing device whether that is a physical computer underneath your desk, your phone or something in the cloud - netflix, a document on microsoft 365 etc.
This space is obviously young so there will be a lot of exploring, fails and hickups.
Also noteworthy is the Huawei Mateview 28" with their project your phone to the screen nfc pad.
Personally I think "smart" monitors is the way to go and we will moving away from devices that require a physical connection to your computing device whether that is a physical computer underneath your desk, your phone or something in the cloud - netflix, a document on microsoft 365 etc.
This space is obviously young so there will be a lot of exploring, fails and hickups.
Also noteworthy is the Huawei Mateview 28" with their project your phone to the screen nfc pad.
Yeah I think it's short sighted to not at least consider what an ideal smart monitor might be. If we're moving to hybrid offices and temporary workstations it might be useful to imagine modern thin terminals in the office space.
What’s the advantage of a thin terminal over a dumb monitor with a thunderbolt/usb-c cable to hookup to your laptop? At least personally I feel like In the last 5-6 years laptops have become powerful enough and have sufficient battery life that most companies I know besides Google have dispensed with desktops.
If we did want smart monitors, I think table stakes would be coming up with a great input experience (fumbling around to find a remote or playing with the few buttons on the bottom/back don’t seem ideal) and figuring out how to do peripheral discovery/control better. Today, my Samsung tv sometimes forgets what is plugged into it and goes into a weird “detecting your device” mode for a very long time so that it can try and let me control it via the remote.
If we did want smart monitors, I think table stakes would be coming up with a great input experience (fumbling around to find a remote or playing with the few buttons on the bottom/back don’t seem ideal) and figuring out how to do peripheral discovery/control better. Today, my Samsung tv sometimes forgets what is plugged into it and goes into a weird “detecting your device” mode for a very long time so that it can try and let me control it via the remote.
It is a bit like asking 20 years ago what is the advantage of wifi compared to a cable when it is so slow and unstable?
Once the tech is ironed out connecting wireless to your display will be cheaper, far more convenient and in practice just as stable as a wired connection.
Once the tech is ironed out connecting wireless to your display will be cheaper, far more convenient and in practice just as stable as a wired connection.
Wireless connectivity and being a smart display seem different to me though. Being able set my laptop down and not have to worry about cable routing seems amazing; being able to have my monitor run apps, show me ads, or require a remote to operate doesn’t seem appealing.
Edit: I think we’d also need to figure out wireless power delivery then?
Edit: I think we’d also need to figure out wireless power delivery then?
A lot of thinking comes from the way that technology works right now.
But as tehnnology grows cheaper and better a lot of constraints that used to be taken for given disappears.
You mentioned wireless power delivery. What if in the future displays become so power efficient that they don't need wired power at all?
Why does a display have to be connected to a single computer?
It could be connected to multiple devices; some showing windows from my computer underneath my desk together with a video call in another window that goes through my phone.
And the weather widget that I configured on desktop computer, why not that keep running on the display, even after I disconnect the desktop computer?
These ideas are not new; they have been in distributed computing for ages. What's new is that they now are being explored commercially.
But as tehnnology grows cheaper and better a lot of constraints that used to be taken for given disappears.
You mentioned wireless power delivery. What if in the future displays become so power efficient that they don't need wired power at all?
Why does a display have to be connected to a single computer?
It could be connected to multiple devices; some showing windows from my computer underneath my desk together with a video call in another window that goes through my phone.
And the weather widget that I configured on desktop computer, why not that keep running on the display, even after I disconnect the desktop computer?
These ideas are not new; they have been in distributed computing for ages. What's new is that they now are being explored commercially.
If you're just using google docs and email, maybe you don't even need the laptop most of the time?
> Yeah I think it's short sighted to not at least consider what an ideal smart monitor might be.
One where the user controls the software, not the other way around. All the misfeatures of smart TVs and monitors are only possible because users are unable to replace the hostile manufacturer-imposed software with something of their choosing.
One where the user controls the software, not the other way around. All the misfeatures of smart TVs and monitors are only possible because users are unable to replace the hostile manufacturer-imposed software with something of their choosing.
I don’t see problems with a monitor “smart” enough to be able to connect to devices wirelessly. That seems fine.
As soon as the thing sprouts a UI and can do things on its own you’ve got problems, though… this means that it has an onboard computer, and probably not a good one — these types of devices tend to have “smarts” on par with those of ancient low-to-midrange Android smartphones from 6+ years ago, because that’s what can be bolted in at almost no extra cost.
That lack of overhead in power means that the device has a short lifespan right out of the box. Web apps continue to get heavier and more resource intensive and will quickly make it inadequate for such basic things as Google Docs. The manufacturer also won’t support it for more than a couple years because nobody wants to take the extra time and energy to write software lean enough to run on old weak hardware.
So if “smart monitors” are to be a success, they’re going to need to do two things:
1. Don’t use such unreasonably cheap and underpowered “smarts”
2. Put the “smarts” on a module or card that can easily be swapped out so when it inevitably gets slow as mud you can upgrade it
Alternatively web app devs could make efficiency more of a priority and manufacturers could continue to provide updates for a decade+, but both of those seem highly unlikely.
As soon as the thing sprouts a UI and can do things on its own you’ve got problems, though… this means that it has an onboard computer, and probably not a good one — these types of devices tend to have “smarts” on par with those of ancient low-to-midrange Android smartphones from 6+ years ago, because that’s what can be bolted in at almost no extra cost.
That lack of overhead in power means that the device has a short lifespan right out of the box. Web apps continue to get heavier and more resource intensive and will quickly make it inadequate for such basic things as Google Docs. The manufacturer also won’t support it for more than a couple years because nobody wants to take the extra time and energy to write software lean enough to run on old weak hardware.
So if “smart monitors” are to be a success, they’re going to need to do two things:
1. Don’t use such unreasonably cheap and underpowered “smarts”
2. Put the “smarts” on a module or card that can easily be swapped out so when it inevitably gets slow as mud you can upgrade it
Alternatively web app devs could make efficiency more of a priority and manufacturers could continue to provide updates for a decade+, but both of those seem highly unlikely.
You are right, but I cannot come up with a reason why I would want to have no physical connection to my laptop - atleast not until we get true wireless power. At that point I can see the idea in that I can leave the laptop in my bag and use the keyboard/mouse/screen combo on my desk when at home. That will be convenient.
But true wireless is something people actually want, so of course that is not going to happen.
But true wireless is something people actually want, so of course that is not going to happen.
If you want a good smart app experience I'd stick to external dedicated device that you can swap out if they get annoying/bad (e.g. Roku, Apple TV, Fire Stick, Google TV, et al.).
In general though Samsung has really lost its luster. They used to be a brand I'd gravitate towards for a fair balance of price Vs. features, but the quality has gone down and prices up. VIZIO are now the "cheap and cheerful" brand, with maybe LG (non-smart) being the premium brand.