We’re more than halfway through 2026 and we’ve seen probably 80 to 90% of all the TVs coming out this year. Of all the ones I’ve seen, the TCL QM7L is the best-looking for folks who don’t want to spend over $1,000.
We felt so strongly about this that we awarded it the best Mini-LED TV during the Tom’s Guide 2026 TV Awards. For its price, it truly doesn’t get much better.
So just how much is it going to set you back? Most of the year, you’d be looking at $1,199 — but right now it’s down to just $997 at Amazon.
To put this TV through its paces, we tapped our head tester Arif Bacchus. In his TCL QM7L review, Arif said that the TV “delivers bright HDR performance, a responsive gaming experience, and good speakers, at a competitive price.”
That’s pretty impressive considering we put this up against two killer RGB TVs — the Sony Bravia 7 II and Hisense UR9.
What impressed Arif the most, however, was its out-of-the-box color performance. This is a TV that can cover 90% of the Rec2020 Color Space — the color space closest to human color perception — with extreme accuracy. Its brightness tops out around 2,300 nits, which is more than bright enough for most HDR scenes.
Every other major TV manufacturer opted for RGB TVs in 2026, but TCL stayed with QD-powered Mini-LEDs and the results speak for themselves.
While it makes a great case for itself for movie lovers, the QM7L is also a solid pick for gamers, too. We measured its input latency at just 9.4ms, one of the lowest scores we’ve ever seen on a TV.
That low latency makes sense considering the QM7L supports AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM).
The only downside for gamers is that only two of the four HDMI ports are available for 144Hz gameplay. The other two top out at 60Hz at 1080p.
The good news? This TV comes with Google TV built-in, so there’s no need for an external streaming box. Google TV hosts nearly every major streaming service, and there are quick buttons on the QM7L’s remote for Netflix, Prime Video, Netflix, Tubi, and Disney Plus.
The TCL QM7L is an all-around performer with very few foibles. For the price — say it with me — it can’t be beat.
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