I have a second generation Chromecast on an old TV that only does 1080p. I’m fine with that, I don’t care about the resolution. Someone told me that I might like the new one with Google TV, but I don’t know much about it. I pretty much just cast from apps on my phone, so I’m not sure if there’s any reason to upgrade. The only thing I don’t like is sometimes the Chromecast icon doesn’t show up and I have to restart the app, but I doubt that’s on the Chromecast end.
Overall, I’m pretty satisfied with what I have, but I’ve been looking at comparison websites and they aren’t really telling me what I need to know, which is if I’m missing something good I shouldn’t be missing.
Also, this is not really important, but I’m on Chrome and Google thinks “Chromecast” is a misspelling.
Just FYI google axed Stadia a bit ago. The ultra handles high definition video better than a regular Chromecast assuming you have a 4k tv and a using streaming apps that support that at the tier you pay for (or don’t). That’s the main difference between the third gen Chromecast and the ultra. The ultra doesn’t come with a remote though. The newest version Chromecast does though. That one comes in high definition and 4k versions. So depends on how much you want to spend if you do that. I’d be worried a lot about the longevity of the original Chromecast or even a second gen because of the age and the number of heat and cool cycles for such a small dongle (depending on how much you use it).
I keep thinking about picking up the hd version with the remote but I don’t need to trade up from the third gen so I haven’t.