I got a smart TV because the dumb ones were more expensive. But I’d never do that with a monitor. A monitor is not meant to be interacted with directly. Just display what the computer says to display. The computer is all that should be running software besides basic firmware for adjusting overall settings like brightness and contrast which computer OSes don’t have enough information to do most of the time. But that’s it.
Monitors should never be “smart”. They have exactly one purpose and that is to display the video signal connected to them. If it starts displaying ads on top of that video signal, then it’s unable to serve it’s one purpose and it belongs in the dumpster.
The same could be said for TVs. “Why does the TV need apps if I’m just gonna connect an Apple TV box to it?”
Because someone thought that people would like a TV where the functionality of an Apple TV box is built in, so you wouldn’t need one. And on paper, that indeed would be pretty neat.
Then inevitably, capitalism happened and enshittified that idea in a heartbeat.
Smart monitors are for dumb people.
There is a reason to connect a TV to the internet. there is not for a monitor.
Check this video from Gamer’s Nexus. They don’t even need an ethernet cable, they can just install ads/malware directly through Windows Update.
Windows installed that malware. The monitor has no way of installing anything on its own.
