Get a non-smart monitor?

Andreas witnessed the end of the world today‭ Do you make use of any other special features of the smart screen? Otherwise selling it second hand and buying another monitor with the proceeds of the sale might be a viable solution.

It was on sale, and effectively the cheapest 4K monitor I was able to get. I had a budget, and this was the only viable monitor within that budget. Replacing it with another monitor would therefore not be an option. My eyes were getting seriously worn out due to a 17" 1920x1080 screen. Even with 2K, a 28" would have a lower pixel density. I view them at very similar distances.

That said, I prefer the question is not localized around my own personal needs, but rather serve as a useful reference for everyone else with the same monitor, whatever their reason to choose it.

Thanks for the explanation! As the question is essential about downgrading, it sounded as selling it might raise enough founds to buy a downgrade, but if it was on sale, the second hand price might also be lower.

Funny, when you ask people about finding dumb TVs (here or elsewhere), the common response is to buy a smart TV and don't connect it to the internet and/or ignore the smart features. But from this question, it sounds like it's not always that simple after all.

As the question is essential about downgrading, it sounded as selling it might raise enough founds to buy a downgrade, but if it was on sale, the second hand price might also be lower.

Many people, presumably including OP, would consider it an upgrade to remove unnecessary, obtrusive malware from their device. Perhaps from the perspective of the manufacturer it could be a downgrade, in that they cannot extract as much profit from the consumer with a dumb TV. When both types were readily available, the smart TVs tended to sell at a discount compared to dumb TVs with comparable models, because the manufacturer expected recover a greater profit than the discount from selling the data and making deals with app/service vendors. So I think it's a bit optimistic to expect to sell the smart TV and get a similar dumb TV with the money.

Also, buying dumb screens is really hard these days, at least in the US.

Also, Andreas - I find that these days when electronics from major brands go on sale, it's because after going to market the company discovered that customers really hate it and are absolutely refusing to buy at the MSRP. Usually, even at the discounted price, it's still not worth it, but the seller is trying to appeal to the psychological desire to score a "win". So for example, a mid range product selling for $500 is often better than a high-end product with MSRP $700 but 30% off. Of course, sometimes you get lucky, and the big deal breaker that scared off customers happens to not apply to your unusual use case.

It's possible that this TV was on sale in the first place because it turned out to be very difficult to get rid of the "smart features", and people stopped buying out. That said, I support the question and would also love to know the answer if there is one.

samcarter‭ It's not about downgrading, merely getting rid of annoying features. Getting rid of the entire OS may do that, but it would be sufficient if there are controls in the OS that let you remove the noisy parts. Quite honestly, this hasn't been on top of my list of things to get done, so I haven't crawled the settings for it.

obtrusive malware

It's not correct to label it malware; that's a misuse of the term.

Many monitors, even dumb ones, have come with an OS, or firmware on the motherboard, for colour calibration, etc. This one just takes it to an extreme, and is more or less designed around "your monitor is your central hub for everything", while that isn't what I bought it for, and isn't even what I'd expect for a monitor marketed and sold as a "gaming monitor".

I think this monitor is fine for my needs. I could not afford anything more expensive, and it delivers on my core needs: resolution, size, aesthetics, framerate, connectivity, acceptable built-in speakers (I don't actually have any external speakers). There does not exist any other 4K monitor at this price available in my country. I don't think it's productive arguing about why I got this model, or if I should sell it or not.