Ten years is not a bad run in the world of smart devices. That’s how long it’s been since Google released the very first Chromecast, a tiny $35 HDMI dongle that let you wirelessly stream audio and video to your TV, with your phone serving as the remote. We liked it so much when it debuted, we named it the best product of 2013.
Recommended Videos This is not to say the device has been rendered useless. If you own one, it will still do everything it did last week. It’s just that going forward, you will begin to see performance problems as the rest of the streaming world continues to evolve and the first-gen Chromecast can’t evolve along with it. And that makes this the right time to consider upgrading.
Google Chromecast with Google TV The awkwardly named Google Chromecast with Google TV — which we’ll just call Chromecast 2020 for simplicity since that’s when it was launched — is the logical successor to not just the first Chromecast, but all other Chromecast models, too . The new version also is fully compatible with the latest audio and video formats including 4K resolution, HDR , and Dolby Atmos. The 4K version costs $50, which is a bargain considering its capabilities, but if that strikes you as too much to replace a device that only cost you $35, there’s also a 1080p Full HD version that’s actually cheaper than the first-gen at just $30.