Which TV Should We Buy
As my wife and I were walking through Best Buy one day, we agreed it was time to purchase a new high definition television for our game room. We already knew that we wanted to purchase either a LCD or a LED TV, but we weren’t exactly sure what the difference was between the two of them. So on our way home as we discussed our future purchase more in depth, we came to the conclusion that we needed to list out the most important factors of the different televisions and then choose the one that best suited us. We already knew that we wanted to stay with a Samsung television and keep the size around fifty-five inches. However, we also wanted to make sure that we were picking a television that was going to last, be environmentally friendly, was as light and thin as possible, and wasn’t what we considered to be too overpriced.
Like the majority of American consumers, I went home and headed right to the internet to begin my research. Knowing that we wanted to stay with a Samsung television, I figured their website would be a great place to start. I wrote our list of questions on a piece of paper and then continued to the website to begin my comparison of the different versions of the products.
I started by first finding the LCD type of television that was within our budget and then navigating to the product specifications portion of their website for that particular TV. I then reviewed the company’s list of specifications, noting all of the information that I was looking for. It was labeled that the TV “Exceeds ENERGY STAR Standards” (SAMSUNG), weighed approximately 62lbs, and was only 3.4” thick. (SAMSUNG) However, I was unable to find anything that listed approximately how long the television would last. So instead of wasting too much time looking for that information I decided to save that for last.
I then continued on with my research by next finding the LED version of the television that I was looking for. There were a lot more options than what I had expected there to be. So, to narrow down the list, I chose one that was only a couple hundred dollars more than the LCD version. Right away I noticed that the LED version had a lot more features that were advertised and that the picture quality specifications were considerably better. However, seeing how those features were not on my list, I focused in on the specifications that were. I quickly found that the LED version also “Exceeds ENERGY STAR Standards”, (SAMSUNG) but weighed in almost 17lbs less and 2” thinner than the LCD version. This was a huge advantage for the LED version in my opinion. Now all that was left was to find out how long each television would last.
To complete my research I resorted to an internet search of, “what lasts longer lcd or led”. There were numerous websites to navigate through and none of them gave a truly direct answer. However, the main point that I understood from all of them, was that they both last for around 65,000 to 100,000 hours of use. The key differences were that the LCD televisions use a compact florescent lamp that contains mercury for the lighting and the LED televisions use light emitting diodes for the lighting, which don’t contain any mercury and use about 40% less energy than the compact florescent lamps. Although this may not have answered my question about which one will last longer, it did emphasize the fact that the LED TVs were a lot more environmentally friendly.
After reviewing all of the facts, it was obvious to us which TV we were going to choose. Ultimately, the fact that the TV was a little thinner and lighter didn’t really play much of a factor in our final decision. It was the fact that the LED TV far surpassed our expectations, in terms of being environmentally friendly that solidified our decision. Even though it was a little more expensive for the LED version, we figured that we would recoup some of the cost through the energy savings and it would also help us feel better about doing our part to preserve our environment.
Bibliography
SAMSUNG. (n.d.). 55" Class (54.6" Diag.) 650 Series 1080p LCD HDTV. Retrieved January 13, 2011, from www.samsung.com: http://www.samsung.com/us/video/tvs/LN55C650L1FXZA-features
Written by: Chad L. Ries 10 Feb 11
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