To my thinking, any TV you buy today should have either Amazon Fire TV or Roku built in. Thankfully, you don't have to pay a premium for those awesome "smart" interfaces.
Proof positive: Today only, and while supplies last, Best Buy once again has the Insignia 32-inch LED TV with built-in Fire TV for just $99.99 (plus tax). That's $70 off the regular price, and a repeat of a sale from about a month ago.
So, Fire TV or Roku? The latter gets more attention these days, but Fire TV is arguably just as good and may be even better. It affords most of the same streaming apps: Netflix, Hulu, HBO and so on. (Alas, if you want YouTube, you have to access it via a web-browser app.) And it comes with an Alexa-enabled remote, so you can bark orders at the TV.
Fire TV also affords access to various Alexa skills and a huge library of Amazon apps. For example, you could play the excellent party game Quiplash -- something Roku can't do.
Read more: The best TVs for 2019
There's a built-in tuner should you wish to connect an antenna, and three HDMI inputs for things like cable boxes and game consoles.
Here's the only real hedge: The TV tops out at 720p (that is, 1,366x768-pixel) resolution, meaning it's definitely not suited for computer use. Some would also argue that 720p is a bit low for a 32-inch screen. I'd say it's the cutoff point: Anything larger and you'll definitely want 1080p. But here it's probably sufficient.
Indeed, look no further than the 1,300-plus customer ratings, which average out to 4.6 stars. Few people appear to have an issue with the 720p resolution.
Your thoughts?
Originally published on April 5, 2019.
Update, May 10: Item is back on sale.
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