Going back to school is about a lot of things: it’s about the future; it’s about academic achievement; it’s about the pursuit of esoteric knowledge. It’s also about taking every chance you have to rot in bed and watch TV.
The thing is, as great a salve as a TV can be when you’ve had too much higher-level thinking or after a night of too many, uh, beverages, it doesn’t always fit in your puny dorm room or into your roommate’s sleep schedule. To help with those constraints, we’ve compiled a list of TV alternatives that can maximize space while still giving you a big screen and other utility, so you don’t have to sacrifice your precious space for the sacred act of beaming movies and television into your eyeballs.
8. Vankyo Leisure 470 Pro
Screens don’t have to be these big black boxes taking up a bunch of room. In fact, they can be little ones that project big pictures onto what’s technically the biggest screen you could have—we’re talking about your wall.
Projectors are arguably the best alternative to owning a TV since they’re much more compact and are still capable of giving you a big screen to watch and play on. The issue is lots of them are ridiculously pricey—lots, but not all. The Vankyo Leisure 470 Pro has an MSRP of $250, but it frequently sells for a heavy discount—I bought mine for just $130 at Best Buy.
While it’s far from the best projector you can buy (those will run you thousands of dollars), it has native 1080p, plenty of ports, including two HDMI, and it’s Wi-Fi compatible, meaning you can cast directly to the projector from your phone. Despite its size, it’s also capable of projecting a 250-inch screen, which will probably be entirely too big for your dorm or a similar space.
This isn’t the brightest projector in the world, and we definitely would not recommend it for outdoor use in the day, but if you live like most college students, that won’t be a total dealbreaker inside your almost windowless dorm room.
See Vankyo Leisure 470 Pro at Best Buy
7. RayNeo Air 4 Pro
Sometimes the biggest screen is somehow also the smallest, and video glasses are proof. Take RayNeo’s Air 4 Pro, for example. This pair of AR glasses is capable of rendering a 201-inch screen on your eyeballs at a peak brightness of 1,200 nits.
Having reviewed them, I can attest to the quality of the display inside these glasses. It’s big, bright, sharp, and comes with HDR10, so there’s plenty of dynamic color contrast. One of the best parts of these glasses is how plug-and-play they are. You can slot them into your iPhone, or a laptop, or a gaming handheld and watch whatever your heart desires.
At $299, these are some of the most affordable and satisfying AR glasses you can buy, though they are tethered, so you may want to use them only in your dorm unless you can handle the inevitable heat you’ll take for looking like a bit of a dork with them on.
See RayNeo Air 4 Pro at Amazon
6. Meta Quest 3S
As long as we’re talking about strapping screens to your face, it’s worth mentioning the Quest 3S. This is Meta’s cheapest XR headset, and despite the approachable price ($350, but it used to be $299 pre-RAMageddon) it has a lot to offer. This XR headset has an LCD panel with a resolution of 1,832 x 1,920 pixels per eye, which doesn’t make it the most high-res XR headset out there, but, from experience, it’s more than enough for gaming, watching movies, and doing some spatial computing.
While there are lots of XR/VR native titles to choose from, one of my favorite uses actually involves using the Quest 3S as a conduit for Xbox Cloud Gaming. Just strap the Quest 3S on your head, hook in an Xbox controller, and you’ve got a big virtual screen right in front of your eyeballs. Sure, it’s a lot heftier than a pair of AR glasses, but you do get a lot of other utility in the spatial computing department and access to Meta’s ecosystem of apps and games.
5. Alienware AW2726DM
Screens can take many shapes and forms, and if you’re going to put one in your cramped dorm, it’s best to ensure that it can be used for something other than binge-watching YouTube. You may also want to ensure that your chosen screen is good for… gaming.
This QD-OLED gaming monitor from Alienware has a couple big perks. One is the fact that it has a high refresh rate of 240Hz, making it ideal for fast-paced games and watching sports if that’s your thing. Probably the most enticing part is the fact that the AW2726DM has a QD-OLED display that maxes out at a 2,560 x 1,440 resolution for just $350, making it one of the cheapest QD-OLED panels you can buy.
At 27 inches, this isn’t the biggest monitor in the world, but for the sake of space, that could be a good thing.
See Alienware AW2726DM at Best Buy
4. Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2
Tablets have been providing people with great, portable screens for a long time now, but if there’s one thing they’ve not typically done well, it’s sound. Lenovo’s Tab Plus is different, though, and with the Tab Plus Gen 2, it’s taking the emphasis on sound a bit further.
Thanks to the integration of a JBL speaker system that includes four tweeters, three woofers, and dual passive radiators, the Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2 acts as a tablet, but also as a Bluetooth speaker. In fact, there’s even a speaker mode that lets you connect your phone via Bluetooth and play music from the tablet’s sound system. That means, theoretically, you can leave a speaker at home, saving some room on your soon-to-be-cluttered desk.
Despite the emphasis on sound, the Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2 provides a pretty decent screen, too, with a 12.1-inch 2.5K IPS display and a 120Hz refresh rate capable of 800 nits of peak brightness. The Dolby Vision and HDR10 don’t hurt, either, nor does a kickstand that rotates 360 degrees and supports landscape and portrait orientations.
See Lenovo Tab Plus Gen 2 at Best Buy
3. Xreal One Pro
While the RayNeo Air 4 Pro might be solid for use as video glasses, they lack the spatial computing abilities of other higher-end XR competitors. The $599 Xreal One Pro, for example, does not lack those spatial abilities—in fact, it’s one of the biggest selling points.
Thanks to a custom-built spatial processor, the Xreal One Pro glasses don’t rely on a separate device for spatial computing. That means they can provide 6 degrees of freedom (6DoF), so you can anchor apps in virtual space for an Apple Vision Pro-like experience. The dedicated processor also means there’s not as much latency as other underpowered glasses.
Another fun feature, if spatial computing isn’t necessarily your thing, is the ability to convert 2D content into 3D content. This isn’t the most practical feature in the world, but it’ll definitely impress your friends when they come over to play Mario Kart.
See XREAL One Pro AR at Amazon
2. Samsung Galaxy XR
As great a deal as the Meta Quest 3S is, it’s not the most premium screen in the world. For a better display, you’ll have to shell out a bit more, though most people don’t have Vision Pro money in the bank. Luckily, there’s an in-between—Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset.
This premium XR headset has a lot of Vision Pro qualities, including dual 4K micro OLED displays and an input system that uses both hand and eye tracking. Plus, if AI is your thing, Gemini is in every corner of the Galaxy XR headset, and you can use features like Circle to Search or shout “Hey Google” for help managing windows. With all of those tools and features at your disposal, the Galaxy XR is one of the most advanced face computers you can buy.
Yes, $1,799 is a lot of money to spend on an XR headset, but this is still the closest thing there is to a Vision Pro, and you know you’re unlikely to spend $3,700 on one of those.
1. Pixel 10 Pro Fold
Let’s be honest, no matter what screens you have around, you’re probably going to spend the most time looking at your phone. And as long as you’re going to be staring into your phone, you might as well make it a luxurious, big experience, and that’s what foldables are all about.
While the Pixel 10 Pro Fold may not be the all-around best foldable phone you can buy, it is one of the biggest, and its MSRP is $200 cheaper than the excellent Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. The Pixel 10 Pro Fold matches the screen size of Samsung’s latest Galaxy Z Fold 7, with an 8-inch OLED inner display when it’s unfolded. The cover screen is slightly smaller at 6.4 inches versus the Z Fold 7’s 6.5 inches.
The slightly lower MSRP could make the Pixel 10 Pro Fold a worthy screen for watching things if you’re absolutely opposed to getting any of the aforementioned displays, though you will have to put up with average cameras and some extra heft compared to Samsung’s offering.