Is this TV too big for my first year dorm?

So my parent’s got me a 40 inch flat screen for my bedroom currently. I wanted to bring it to school with me, but am worried about the size. Is this too big?

If you are in a standard double room, personally I think that is on the large size. Many dorms do not allow tvs to be wall mounted, and that takes up a lot of space that is needed for doing homework and papers. At least that’s the way it is at the university DD is attending.

It sounds WAY too big to me, personally. Most people I know don’t even have TVs in their rooms; they use stuff like Netflix/Hulu or else the common room TVs.

hopefully you are not a TV junkie. if you are you will have problems.

Unless your room is really small, a 40" TV doesn’t seem like a bad size if positioned correctly. Just make sure you don’t watch too much of it.

As spiffyiscool said, you may not be allowed to wall-mount TVs in the dorm (you shouldn’t do this anyway unless you have experience), but you may be able to stand it on a drawer/shelf.

Does it fit in your average dorm room? Yes. Can it be set up safely/in a place where it’s not likely to break? Probably not…

Save it for when you dorm in an apartment.

Based on most dorm rooms I’ve seen, having a 40" Tv is possible, but would be very uncomfortable. I’m assuming you’re in a standard double. There’s simply not that much space to put the TV where it’ll be relatively safe from accidental bumps, comfortable to watch (I’m thinking glare reduction and view ability), and efficient (the TV needs to be close to the cable outlet which limits your choices). And since you can’t wall mount the TV, I’m assuming that you’re also going to want a stand and (maybe) some chairs. You’re room just isn’t big enough to comfortably fit that much stuff.

My advise is to either go with a smaller TV or use your computer like most other students.

First year dorms are typically quite small, so I think chances are good that it’ll be too large. If you think you need a TV, a 32" should be more than enough. Also, check with your roommate to make sure they don’t plan on bringing one, also.

related question: how can people bring TVs to their dorms? do they have cable there or something? is it free? what is the purpose of that?

i can understand bringing a TV to play video games and if it’s smart it can connect to netflix and other apps

but you could just use your laptop for that as well (the apps)

can you actually watch TV channels and stuff if you bring a TV? how does that work?

I think most colleges will have cable or at least mine does.

Mine also had cable. Most channels, but no HBO, Showtime, etc.

I’m a film buff, but even so, if I were freshman dorming nowadays I’d probably just use my laptop. Travel lean and light. If you want to occasionally watch a movie on a bigger screen, get a Roku/Chromecast/FireTV/AppleTV thing to use on the common room TV. Much simpler than hauling a whole TV back and forth every summer, or storing it.

Buy a cable card for your computer and plug it into the wall. Or your campus may have internet streaming while connected to the campus network.