My budget Google TV lags constantly, and Google’s new plan will only make matters worse

Joe Maring / Android Authority Reading that Google is lowering the RAM requirements for Google TV sent shivers down my spine. I can already see the 1-star reviews flooding in for TVs that haven’t even launched yet: “horrendous performance,” “laggy interface,” “do not buy.” Google hasn’t specified the new minimum, but with Android TV dropping its requirement to just 1GB, that’s likely the target for upcoming budget Google TVs as well. And that’s not good. If there’s one thing smart TVs absolutely don’t need, it’s worse specs — especially less RAM. Many budget TVs and streaming sticks already struggle with performance, and RAM can be the difference between a smooth UI and a lag-fest. This isn’t a theoretical argument; I’ve lived it. I've tried to love Google's TV products, but the budget experience is so poor. My first run-in with Google’s platform was 2020’s Chromecast with Google TV, seemingly a bargain at just $50. It shipped with just 8GB of storage (only 4.4GB usable), 2GB of R ... Read full article.