What size TV for dorm room? Help needed.

<p>Hi, I know this may sound silly but I was wondering what size TV's your kids have taken to college. My daughter will most likely be in a double room (that is her preference). We don't know which college yet.
Since Black Friday is coming there are really great deals on all sizes of flat screen/slim TV's. I would like to purchase one now instead of in July.
Can you please advise on what size of flatscreen would be best? I don't know if 19" is too small. Or is something in the 20's preferable?
Thank you. :)</p>

<p>How about no TV?</p>

<p>There is probably a TV in the dorm’s common area anyway.</p>

<p>Depends on your wallet and your kid. We buy electronics through our business…our son had a 42 inch TV but lived in apt style dorm with living room…D had something smaller…I think 36. they didn’t have TV in their bedrooms in HS but a college student should be able to decide if they want it and budget their time…</p>

<p>While I also think bringing a TV to college is a bit absurd, many kids do. The size would depend on the size of the dorm room. I personally wouldn’t buy a TV without first seeing the dorm room and **** important! **** checking with roommate(s) if she/they were OK with having it in the room in the first place.</p>

<p>No tv! Kids watch all they want on their computer monitors. Honest. Get an iPad instead.</p>

<p>Agreed! My d watches TV most on her lap top. Though the kids do get together to watch movies in the kid that has the 42" TV room.</p>

<p>65" should suffice
Haha
Just kidding
However, somewhere between 25"-40" should be best, unless it is out of your price range</p>

<p>Neither one of mine took a TV to college. The youngest now lives in a house that has a tv in the living room. The oldest was in dorms for three years that had a tv in the common room, but senior yr moved to a town house without a tv.</p>

<p>I appreciate that neither D had a tv that needed to be moved. :)</p>

<p>DD had the smallest TV that they sold at Target. She used it for one year…but then found that she did most of her “watching” on her computer too. DS had no TV at all in undergrad or grad school (lived in an apartment for all but the first two years). Had a computer for all he watched.</p>

<p>I’m firmly in the no TV camp for the following reasons:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Most current undergrads watch TV programs on their computers anyways.</p></li>
<li><p>Takes up way too much space given its limited mostly non-academic functionality.</p></li>
<li><p>Could cause potential conflicts not only between studious/not-so-studious roommates over TV watching…but also similar fights over console gaming. Yes, I’ve not only seen this happen firsthand…also had to break up/mediate one such fight during a visit to a younger friend’s dorm. </p></li>
<li><p>Can easily serve to isolate one’s undergrad from expanding their socializing horizons outside his/her dorm room. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Granted, I’m a bit biased. Unlike most college kids of my generation(mid-late '90s), I had a heated argument with a few older relatives precisely because THEY felt a TV was a necessity in a dorm whereas I felt it was a waste of space and a potential distraction from the main purpose of going to college…academics and socially interacting with other classmates/campus community OUTSIDE MY DORM.</p>

<p>D has 22 inch Sony. Fits perfectly. Roommates mom pays for DVR thru cable.Kids come over for special shows and movies and some sports. Doesn’t seem to be an issue or interference with anything.</p>

<p>D1’s roommate supplied the TV. All I know is that it’s “not very big” and that’s fine, given that dorm rooms are kind of small and crowded anyway. D1 does prefer a TV to her computer because it’s hard to have several kids crowded around the laptop.</p>

<p>I had a 19" TV that everyone enjoyed for long hours of Xbox 360 through my first three years of college. I moved into a house with a 45" TV my senior year off-campus, and didn’t touch my TV the whole year. Only sucked because you had to sit kind of close to see the people you needed to snipe in Call of Duty…</p>

<p>No TV works, but having an Xbox with an HDTV made my room the hang out room. That and my ability to sleep through my floormates with my TV blaring at night when I had 6 AM practice the next day.</p>

<p>I think the size of tv- will depend on the size of the room it is going to be watched in.</p>

<p>S watched the TV on his computer. About the only thing that was watched as a group on the dorm tv was The Office. </p>

<p>I wouldn’t buy a TV for a college kid, personally.</p>

<p>Try a 0" TV. </p>

<p>It’s best to start at least with no TV. She should be spending her time studying, working out, socializing, doing ECs, etc. Depending on her major she might seriously have almost no time for TV anyway and it can be a major distraction. It’s better for her to occasionally go to a TV kid’s room every now and then to watch a game or something than have everyone always coming to her room to watch TV. In addition, some dorm buildings have a ‘TV room’ or lounge area where people can go to watch TV.</p>

<p>For a little bit of down time every now and then she can just watch a pretty decent selection on her laptop nowadays.</p>

<p>My son had no TV in his dorm room. Wasn’t enough space and had too much else going on. When he moved out to a house with some of his friends, they ended up getting a used TV but it was mostly for video games. What little TV he watched was usually on his PC.</p>

<p>Daughter was in a triple her freshman year. Nobody brought a TV as there wasn’t space. Dorm TV room was just down the hall. She is a real big NFL Patriots fan (she got the bug from me) and wanted to watch them play. She used her desktop PC with a TV tuner card and Windows media center to make her PC into a DVR. I told her that with no TV she could get a bigger monitor for her PC and so she did.</p>

<p>She is now in an apartment and they have a TV in the common room but she still mostly uses her PC. </p>

<p>BTW, she also has a netbook PC when she needs portability which is not very often at her college. The college provides student group workrooms with a PC and projector, so most laptops never leave their dorm rooms or apartments. Look into what the school offers. I would consider the desktop/netbook combination.</p>

<p>When we went to Admitted Students Weekend, there was a forum for parents with current students as panelists. This question came up, and all 4 of the student panelists were against it. They said, first, students can get isolated, spending their spare time watching TV in their rooms rather than being out in the world. Or OTOH, their room can become “TV Central,” drawing others like a magnet resulting in distractions and disruptions from studying and possibly causing conflict with the non-TV-owning roomie.</p>

<p>I agree. No tv.</p>

<p>“I wouldn’t buy a TV for a college kid, personally.”</p>

<p>me too. I might buy my kid a gps device, if I thought it would help him find a nice, quiet nook in the library.</p>