Best Deal Today
Right now, if you’re hunting for the best 40-inch TV on a tight budget, this Hisense 40A4NF (A4 Series) is a good place to start. It’s not the best budget, mid-size TV you’ll ever find in the market, but considering the price, it’ll give you a good viewing experience overall, and you get plenty of smart features that you’ll not readily find on similar-priced sets in the market.
Before we get deep dive, let’s keep in mind that when you’re keen on spending so little on a TV, you’re likely to compromise on a few things here and there. With the Hisense A4 Series, you don’t have to sacrifice too much – but it still doesn’t match up to the best TVs that deliver solid visuals, clear audio, and lots of features, including gaming extras such as VRR and ALLM.
An affordable 40-inch television, on the other hand, will work well in a small living room, bedroom, or kitchen; but if you need something that doubles up as your home’s entertainment hub, you may want to look elsewhere. For big living rooms, there are lots of options to explore, including the Hisense U8G or the LG Evo G5 OLED TV – our favorite high-end TV.
Design & Features
Simple styling, the Hisense A4 has slim black bezels surrounding the screen, with a Hisense logo at the center at the bottom. The plastic feet are straightforward to attach; you just need to screw them in, and the TV is VESA wall mount compatible as well.
Setting up the Hisense 40A4NF is pretty easy; you can do it yourself because the whole thing only weighs 10.4 pounds, and it measures 3.1 x 35.4 x 20.1 inches, so it is not a huge or bulky set either. It will easily fit on a small table or desk. After you’ve put it in place, just plug it in and follow the setup prompts to set up your Wi-Fi network. It only takes under 5 minutes for the complete setup.
It comes with a small black plastic remote; we’ve seen this remote in other basic Fire TV models. Surprisingly, it does actually work well and is very easy to use despite the buttons being a little packed together. The buttons are well arranged, with a dedicated Home button, alongside five other buttons to the most popular streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Prime Video, and Hulu.
For connectivity, it comes with three HDMI ports and one USB 2.0 port, alongside Wi-Fi 5.0 and AirPlay support. DTS Virtual X gives you immersive sound, while the natural color enhancer enhances color reproduction to deliver a more accurate experience.
Picture Quality
With an LED-backlit screen and a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080p, the Hisense 40A4NF has decent picture quality for a budget TV, even though it is far from being the best you can get from a 40-inch TV. We’ve reviewed the 43-inch Amazon Fire TV 4-Series with a 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution that offers elevated visuals for home entertainment, and the Hisense QD7 Series is yet another solid choice that packs a QLED panel, Dolby Atmos, Game Mode Plus, and ALLM for a little more money.
In this category, competition is tough, and with the right budget, you’re sure of getting a solid TV for your needs. However, if you’re keen on spending as little as possible for a small TV for the side bedroom and don’t care about extras like gaming support, then the Hisense A4 is the TH for you.
Considering how much you’re spending on this TV, there’s not so much to complain about here. The screen has bright colors and deep, dark blacks. Compared to some other affordable TVs, the colors on the Hisense A4 aren’t washed out or exaggerated, so you get a fairly good viewing experience across movies and live TV. Still, you won’t get the kind of clarity that you’d get on a 4K screen with mini-LEDs or quantum dots technology. If you need a small TV for the kitchen or bedroom, picture quality won’t be a huge issue, though.
There are a handful of picture modes to choose from, including AI Sports mode, Game Mode, and Auto. I would certainly keep things on the Auto settings, but having the other modes helps, too. The 1080p screen doesn’t offer top-tier brightness by any means; it’s a common problem, especially during the day. Alongside the underwhelming screen brightness, the basic 60Hz refresh rate means this TV is not a good choice for console gaming.
Fire TV OS and Alexa
For you to get the most out of Fire TV features, you’ll need to sign in with your Amazon account, which is typical of Fire TV streamers, which are built around using your account for transactions like purchasing the app and renting media. However, on the Insignia Fire TV Edition, you don’t need an Amazon account to use the TV. There is an optional Basic mode that lets you use the TV as a TV, without access to most streaming features in the interface, but provides access to the TV’s varied inputs.
Still, most of us would want to use our Amazon account to access the full features of the Insignia Fire TV Edition, bearing in mind how robust it is as a smart TV platform. For instance, it lets you access most streaming services, including Amazon Video and Music, Hulu, Netflix, Sling TV, Spotify, and Twitch. Curiously, Google Play Movies & TV, as well as Google Play Music, are absent, and YouTube loads only via the Firefox or Silk web browsers.
Not surprising at all, while the Fire TV OS is ideally based on Android, rarely do you see Amazon and Google get along much on content. The Fire TV includes access to the Alexa voice assistant, which you can easily use on the Insignia Fire TV Edition by pressing the microphone button on the remote and speaking into it. Sure, it may not be as hands-free as the Echo or Echo Spot, but it’s still functional out of the box with the press of a button.
Hisense 40A4NF Review: Bottom line
The Hisense 40A4NF is a 40-inch television that’s a good choice for anyone looking for an affordable, small TV for the kitchen, kitchen or small living room. It’s not perfect, though, and it doesn’t offer top-tier picture quality; its sound quality is also lacking. Well, you can’t expect all that from a sub-$300 television set anyway. Considering its price, its performance is quite good across the board.
The Fire TV platform is the best thing to happen on this TV; it offers you all the smarts you need to enjoy your favorite TV shows and stream videos on YouTube and other platforms. Also, the TV remote is responsive and easy to use, even if the hollow plastic doesn’t feel particularly sturdy.
Our recommendation is to use the Hisense 40A4NF for your kitchen, bedroom, or office – it’ll be a great choice for students too. For the living room, there are better choices to consider for a little more money, including the Hisense 55QD7QF or the TCL 55QM7K – especially if you need a mid-size screen with better picture quality and gaming extras.
Price Comparison
