There are very tempting reasons to try it but using a television as your computer’s main display comes with issues. AppleInsider tells you what you have to consider and examines whether the low cost is worth the trade-offs.
Everyone has done exactly this. We’ve spent an extremely long day in front of a monitor and we have gone home only to spend an hour or two more in front of a TV set. And while we’re a bit more likely to watch the NFL on that screen than we are an Excel spreadsheet, these two different types of displays have become steadily more and more similar.
Both are now very nearly always flat-panel displays. They might have a curve to them, but the days of the giant cathode ray tube sticking out the back are gone.
True, a TV set is typically larger than a computer monitor, but then we watch it from further away. TV sets don’t often come with FaceTime cameras built in but then nor do most monitors, unless they’re the one that an iMac is wrapped around.
Plus while it used to be that you physically couldn’t connect your Mac to your TV, you’ve been able to for a long time. There are plenty of older Mac minis that are plugged into televisions. Then, while there’s still a difference between watching a movie in your living room and watching a computer display, half of today’s movies are computer graphics anyway. What’s more, you’re already used to playing video games on your TV set and gaming is one of the best tests for any monitor.
All of this would be interesting academically but there’s one more facet that makes the similarity of TVs and monitors significant —money. It is usually vastly cheaper to buy a television than a monitor for equivalent size.
It makes a difference
Right now you can easily get, say, a 32-inch TV set for well less than $400 whereas a 32-inch monitor will cost you $600. That’s not an enormous difference but you wouldn’t casually pay $200 more than you needed.
Yet, that’s a price for only a reasonably standard monitor and if you need more, you pay much more.