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What differentiates a high-end mini-LED TV from a budget model?
As TV technology has improved over the years, Mini-LED TVs, once considered a premium product, have become much more affordable. You can buy budget-friendly mini-LED TVs from brands like Hisense and TCL for under $500.
However, with Mini-LED TVs selling at such attractive prices, the question arises: what’s the point of shelling out big bucks for more premium options that can cost $1,500, $2,000, or even more? Let’s find out exactly how budget and premium Mini-LED TVs differ and how their specific differences can impact your viewing experience.
What is a mini-LED TV?
A Mini-LED TV is a type of LCD TV that uses much smaller LED modules for backlighting than those in regular LED TVs. Additionally, while traditional LED TVs feature anywhere from a dozen to a few hundred full-sized LED modules, mini-LED TVs can feature thousands of these miniature LEDs. This change is crucial because it allows Mini-LED TVs to achieve better backlight control and higher maximum brightness, which results in much deeper blacks and a significantly better contrast ratio, among other benefits.
Mini-LED TVs were developed to address one of the biggest drawbacks of conventional LED TVs: poor black reproduction, which essentially made blacks look gray and put them at a significant disadvantage compared to OLED TVs and their inky blacks.
Unfortunately, there is no standardization for mini-LEDs, and it is up to the manufacturer to label what they consider a mini-LED and what a full-sized LED is. Therefore, just because a TV manufacturer’s marketing team calls a TV a Mini-LED TV does not necessarily guarantee better picture performance, similar to other Mini-LED TVs.
What differentiates a high-end mini-LED TV from a budget model?
It’s natural to wonder what sets a high-end Mini-LED TV apart from a more affordable one, as you wouldn’t want to spend extra money on a so-called high-end product.
Of course, there are some inherent benefits to buying a high-end TV that have nothing to do with its backlight technology. You’re more likely to benefit from the latest TV features, whether related to connectivity, gaming, HDR or image processing, on a high-end TV rather than a budget TV.
For example, higher-end TVs have newer Wi-Fi technologies, such as Wi-Fi 6E, to provide better connectivity. They also have advanced gaming features, such as a high refresh rate display panel, VRR support, and HDMI 2.1 ports. Similarly, expensive TVs are equipped with the latest and most powerful processors, enabling better image processing and a better smart TV experience. Let’s not forget that higher-end TVs generally have better design and build quality.
However, beyond these benefits, premium Mini-LED TVs also offer specific picture quality advantages over budget models, which are due to their superior implementation of Mini-LED technology. Let’s dig deeper to find out how.
Better local dimming
As mentioned, one of the biggest benefits of having thousands of mini-LEDs is better backlight control, which allows your TV to perform more precise local dimming, selectively turning parts of the backlight to produce darker parts of a scene. However, local dimming performance can vary greatly depending on the number of backlight zones, because LED or Mini-LED TVs do not have pixel-level light control like OLED TVs. This is where premium and budget Mini-LED TVs differ a lot.
High-end Mini-LED TVs have many more local dimming zones than affordable models. Thus, they provide better local dimming, which translates into better backlight control that allows for deeper blacks, less blurring around bright objects, less crushed blacks and improved contrast. With a higher contrast ratio, colors pop more on screen and visuals look much better. All of this also improves overall HDR performance, as the TV can brighten highlights in an HDR scene without overexposing surrounding areas.
To further express the disparity in local dimming zones, according to Rtings.com, the Hisense U65QF, a 2025 budget Mini-LED TV, comes with 300 zones in its 65-inch model, while, according to FlatpanelsHD.com, the Samsung QN90F, a 2025 premium Mini-LED TV, has 720 zones in the 65-inch variant. As you can see, the high-end model has more than twice as many dimming zones as the budget Mini-LED TV of the same size.
However, local dimming performance isn’t just limited to the number of zones; the algorithm used for backlight control can also affect it. This algorithm, which depends more on brand than price, determines how the TV adjusts the brightness of individual zones based on the content being displayed.
Higher maximum brightness
Beyond improved local dimming performance, another improvement you’ll see on expensive Mini-LED TVs is higher peak brightness, which results from the inclusion of more mini-LEDs than in budget models. With higher peak brightness and deeper blacks, higher-end Mini-LED TVs can achieve greater color volume, which is essentially the number of colors a TV can display. This also impacts HDR performance, as a TV with greater color volume can display a more realistic picture by producing a wider color gamut.
Additionally, with a higher maximum brightness, a Mini-LED TV can easily display the highlights of a content and deliver a more realistic version, much closer to the creator’s intention.
The higher brightness is also useful for reducing glare from surrounding light sources and managing reflections. If you want to place your Mini-LED TV in a room with a lot of ambient and artificial lighting, you want it to handle glare and reflections well, something you won’t find on budget models due to their lower brightness.
Which one should you buy?
When shopping for a new Mini-LED TV, a balanced approach to features and price makes the most sense. With today’s television market being highly competitive, budget manufacturers have increasingly shown that they can compete with television manufacturers who have traditionally released more expensive models.
So, depending on your budget, you can search for options and then compare their specifications to choose the best one. However, since specs don’t tell the whole story, it’s also a good idea to look for reviews from trusted publications and verified buyers to get a better idea of how this Mini-LED TV will perform in the real world. Of course, with budget models you may miss out on some features, but you’ll also pay a lot less.
However, if budget is not a constraint for you and you want the best from the world of Mini-LED TVs, premium options will generally offer better performance.
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- Operating system
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Four operating systems
- Refresh rate
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144Hz
The U65QF is an entry-level mini-LED TV from Hisense that punches above its weight by including features like a 144Hz panel, quantum dot technology, and HDMI 2.1 ports. It also works on Amazon’s Fire TV platform.
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- Operating system
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Tizen
- Refresh rate
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165Hz
The Samsung QN90F is the company’s flagship 4K mini-LED TV. It features a sleek design and is packed with quantum dot technology and advanced gaming features, including a 165Hz panel. It runs on the company’s Tizen operating system.
Finally, whether you opt for a budget Mini-LED TV or a high-end TV, some features you may want to consider for an overall superior TV experience include quantum dot technology for richer colors, support for dynamic HDR formats, such as Dolby Vision and HDR10+, for watching the best version of compatible content, and advanced gaming features if you’re into gaming.
