Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus brings life to older TVs with dropped price before Prime Day

While most of the best TVs on the market come with a dedicated operating system with access to built-in video streaming apps, these interfaces can slow down, especially as the device ages or lacks processing power. At this point, using an external streaming device to revive an old smart TV and increase its performance can be one of the most practical solutions. Amazon's Fire TV Stick series stands out as a popular choice in this context due to the ease of installation and performance increase it offers users.

The biggest advantage of a streaming device over the TV's own operating system is its powerful processors, which allow you to navigate menus much faster. While budget-friendly TV manufacturers often prioritize screen technology to cut costs and keep the processor weak, an external streaming stick fills this gap. Additionally, as TV manufacturers slow down built-in operating system updates as devices age, new devices from brands like Amazon and Apple support faster connection standards like Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, taking network performance to the next level.

With the widespread adoption of smart home technology, these devices are used not only for consuming content but also to serve as the control center of the home. While some major TV brands offer smart home support, proprietary streaming devices from Amazon, Google, and Apple are designed to be the hub of ecosystems like Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. This way, you can manage your other smart home devices without getting up from your couch and control your home automation through a single device.

While the latest models from Apple and Google, other high-end options on the market, are sold at high prices of around 400 and 160 Australian dollars respectively, Amazon's Fire TV Sticks are positioned at a much more accessible price point. In particular, Amazon's Fire TV Stick 4K Plus model has dropped to a record low price with the discount made before Prime Day. Positioned as the family's mid-range segment, this model offers superior features such as more RAM, Dolby Vision support, and Wi-Fi 6 compared to the cheaper Select model.

In terms of technical specifications, the Fire TV Stick 4K Plus's recommended retail price of 99 Australian dollars makes for a quite attractive alternative compared to Apple TV 4K's 299 dollars and Google TV Streamer's 159 dollars. The device, with a MediaTek MT8696D processor, 2GB of RAM, and 8GB of storage, offers sufficient performance for daily use, while also incorporating modern connectivity features like Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. If you don't need console functions and super high processing power and can ignore integrated ads, Amazon offers one of the most sensible options on the market with this price-performance balance.