Best Dorm-Room TVs for Students 2022

Don’t settle for a tiny laptop or smartphone screen when you’re unwinding with shows and movies after a long day of classes. We recommend outfitting your dorm with Samsung Q60B because of its bright picture and loads of features. But there are plenty of great TVs out there that are affordable, even on a student budget.

Here are our top five student TV recommendations.

Jump to:

• Best dorm-room TVs
• Head-to-head comparison
• What to look for

Best dorm-room TVs for students

• Samsung Q60B (43″) ($477.99)—Best overall
• LG UG9000 (43″) ($326.99)—Best value
• Samsung Q60A (32″) ($447.99)—Best for limited space
• TCL 3-Series Roku Smart TV (40″) ($219.99)—Best budget pick
• DBPOWER 8500L Mini Portable Projector ($134.99)—Most versatile

Compare and shop 4K TVs and HD TVs for students

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Our picks for best overall (Samsung Q60B), best value (LG Q9), and best for limited space (Samsung Q60A) include brands that we haven’t featured before in this annually updated guide. That’s because we used to prioritize price over features.

This year, we increased our limit from $250 to $500 because, you know, inflation. Also, that price range means we can include newer TVs that, while smaller and more affordable, have 4K resolution and HDR.

But we know price matters to most college students, so three of our picks—the Samsung Q60A, TCL 40″ Roku Smart TV, and the DBPOWER 8500L projector—land in the $150–$327 range.

Best dorm-room TVs for students in-depth

Before we zoom in on our recommended dorm-room TVs, let’s briefly cover the criteria we used to make our picks.

• Price: $150–$500
• Size: A 24″–43″ TV will have optimal viewing distances of 4–6 feet. That’s about right for a dorm room.
• Resolution: At least 1080p HD, but ideally 4K UHD with HDR.
• PC monitor: If someone’s approving your expenses, you can justify combining your TV budget with part of your computer budget—and meet two needs with one device.

Following these reviews, we’ll discuss the reasons behind the criteria in the “What to look for” section.

Samsung Q60B (43″)—Best overall

The Q60B is an entry-level Samsung smart TV, but it has a nice, bright picture and loads of features. Seriously, the Q60B is a lot of TV for less than $500.

Picture-wise, it has Samsung’s proprietary QLED technology with dual LED backlights, 4K UHD resolution with AI upscaling, and Quantum HDR for a bright, colorful, detailed image. And features like brightness detection, Game View (for extra-wide aspect ratios on sports and games), and Motion Xcelerator (for less motion blur on sports and games).

And on the audio tip, the Q60B has built-in 20W speakers with software enhancements like Object Tracking Sound Lite and QSymphony.

The TV also supports tons of streaming TV apps (Netflix, Apple TV, Hulu, YouTube, Max™, Disney+, and more) and includes the 150-channel Samsung TV Plus FAST (free, ad-supported, streaming TV) service. And, with Multi-View, you can watch a show and browse your smartphone on the same screen.

Finally, the included SolarCell remote is simple, easy to use, integrates with multiple voice assistants (Alexa, Google Assistant, and Bixby), and uses solar power (no batteries—yay).

If we had to complain about something, it’d be that there’s no HDMI 2.1 port or variable refresh rate, which would have been great for gamers with the latest consoles. But even without those features, your roommate will be stoked when you bring this bad boy home.

What to look for

If you’d like to shop for yourself, here are the key considerations when buying a smart TV for your college dorm room.

Price

Copy . . .Whether you’re a starving college student or flush with financial aid, we don’t recommend dropping a bunch of money right now. You can get a good TV for under $500. Then, when you graduate and get a job, buy yourself a nicer TV.

Screen size

We recommend TVs with 27″–43″ screens. Why? We’ve seen average dorm-room sizes reported as 100–230 square feet, so you have only so much space.^{1 2} At these room sizes, the optimal viewing distance is 4–6 feet away from your TV—perfect.

Display type

You’ll see many display types: LED, QLED, and OLED are the most common. Expect to see mostly LED (brighter images) and QLED (more colorful images) TVs at this price point ($500 and lower) and in these screen sizes (27″–43″).

Resolution

These days it’s easier to find 4K TVs priced below $500, but TVs smaller than 32″ tend to have 1080p (full HD) or even 720p (regular HD). That’s because, in those sizes, 4K is hardly noticeable.

HDR

HDR (high dynamic range) is all about contrast and detail. It helps you better perceive the light and dark parts of an image. Similar to 4K, HDR is more common in TVs nowadays—and it’s less perceptible with smaller screen sizes.

Refresh rate

Avid gamers and sports fans will care the most about this refresh rate, which measures how fast your picture updates. Expect TVs under $500 to have refresh rates of 60Hz, meaning the picture refreshes once every 60 seconds. Higher-quality TVs have around 120Hz, and the highest rate is 240Hz.

Sound quality

There are two things to consider regarding TV audio quality. The more expensive TVs in this price range have built-in speakers plus fancy, proprietary audio enhancement features like AI Sound Pro and Object Tracking Sound. The cheaper TVs tend to have only the speakers.

Final take

We feel like proud parents dropping our kids off at college—but you have to buy your own dorm-room TV. When you start shopping, remember the following:

• The 43″ Samsung Q60B ($477.99) is our best overall recommendation. If you want a sweet, feature-rich TV for less than $500, get this one.
• The 43″ LG UG9000 ($326.99) is an excellent value.
• The 32″ Samsung Q60A ($447.99) is almost as good as the Q60B, but its smaller size makes it a better fit for small dorm rooms.
• The 40″ TCL 3-Series Roku TV ($219.99) is a decent little TV for a killer price.
• The DBPOWER 8500L Mini Projector ($134.99, but watch for Amazon coupons for up to $30 off) gives you 40″–240″ screen sizes, excellent portability, and saves you even more space.

Now run along to your <sob> future.

Best dorm-room TVs for students FAQ

Methodology

At CableTV.com, our TV experts spend a combined hundreds of hours researching and, whenever possible, testing TVs and projectors like the ones we recommend here for students and dorm rooms. We compare them based on pricing, specs, features, performance, and more so that our readers can make informed buying decisions. To learn more about our process, visit our How We Rank page.

Endnotes

1. StudentRoomStay.com, “How Big Should Your College Apartment Be?,” November 2021. Accessed August 17, 2022.
2. StudentMajor.com, “How Big Is A College Dorm Room?,” May 2022. Accessed August 17, 2022.