Acquiring a new television can be more of a mental strain than a financial one. If you’re not a selective film enthusiast or a dedicated gamer, understanding TV specifications can resemble a “Explain it to me like I’m five” situation. (This is also true for laptop specifications.)

The long product names on Amazon TVs only add to the perplexity. A mixture of ambiguous terms like “Omni Mini-LED, QLED 4K UHD, Dolby Vision IQ, 144hz, Ambient Experience” can be overwhelming for most people — it’s sheer disorder.

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To clarify this, I’ve put together a simple TV buyers guide, outlining specifications like QLED and OLED lighting, 4K resolution, brightness, and refresh rate. Recommendations for the top TVs to consider for purchase in 2025 are located at the end of this guide, courtesy of insights from CNET’s Ty Pendlebury. (CNET and Mashable share ownership under publisher Ziff Davis.)

Lighting clarified: LED vs. QLED vs. OLED

The key takeaway: 4K and LED are not discussing the same concept. 4K pertains to resolution, whereas terms containing -LED refer to lighting.

Contrary to the TV-related inquiries that populate Google’s “People also asked” section, you don’t have to pick between, for instance, 4K or QLED. For example, a TV can possess 4K resolution with LED, QLED, or OLED lighting. The order provided also indicates their ascending price levels: LED TVs are the least expensive among the lighting types, QLED TVs can range from budget-friendly to high-end and pricey, and OLED TVs are the costliest type due to their highly advanced lighting system. You are far more likely to find economical QLED TVs compared to affordable OLED TVs.

What is QLED?

Technical interpretation: QLED stands for Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Diode.

Quantum dots are minuscule nanocrystals capable of transforming a basic light spectrum into billions of vivid colors. Measuring no larger than 10 nanometers, a quantum dot beside a single human hair would appear as tiny as Earth when seen next to giant stars in those “scale of the universe” presentations. Existential reflection incoming.

Due to their diminutive size, millions (occasionally billions) of quantum dots can be packed into a quantum dot display. Each is able to receive and reflect the light emanating from the backlight panel situated behind them. The color of the reflected light depends on the size of each particle.

The color of the light reflected in a quantum dot depends on the size of each particle. Credit: Samsung

The more quantum dots that fit into a display, the more vivid the spectrum of colors and brightness the TV can generate. Color gamut is the formal term you’ll encounter that indicates the range of colors a TV can produce. A broad color gamut simply signifies more vibrant colors, regardless of where they lie on the color spectrum.

Brightness, which is merely the amount of light the TV display produces, is quantified in nits. Traditional LED TVs generally achieve around 500 nits, while even the most affordable QLEDs today surpass 1,000 nits. Nit counts continue to increase as TVs become more premium — the finest TVs of 2025 can easily reach 2,000 nits at peak brightness.

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What is mini LED?

Technical translation: Mini LED is a type of TV lighting utilizing more, smaller-than-usual LED bulbs within a TV’s LCD panel.

QLED is not the same as mini LED — QLED pertains to the nanocrystals that reflect light from the bulbs in the panel, whereas mini LED concerns the bulbs themselves.

Smaller, densely packed LED bulbs across the screen allow for more precise brightness regulation within small areas (known as dimming zones) of the display. These clusters of bulbs can be dimmed or switched off collectively to achieve more defined contrast without compromising the areas of the image that require brightness and vibrancy.

The more local dimming zones a display possesses, the more chances to fine-tune color and contrast throughout each inch of every scene, ultimately creating a sharper, more lifelike image on the screen. Budget-friendly mini LED TVs likely won’t have more than 200 dimming zones, while solid mid-range options might increase that number to 500. The top mini LED TVs feature over 1,000 dimming zones and come closest to the OLED experience in terms of contrast (more on that later).

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When QLED shines brightest: The primary benefit of QLED is its brightness, which excels in handling glare.