Walmart’s $60 Onn 4K Pro Remains the Best Value in Streaming Amid Rising Hardware Prices

As consumer costs continue to climb across virtually every sector of the technology market, finding a dependable piece of hardware that does not break the bank has become an increasingly difficult task. Amid a wave of recent price hikes across streaming devices, Walmart’s $60 Onn 4K Pro streamer powered by Google TV has emerged as a rare bright spot for budget-conscious consumers—provided they can actually manage to find it available for purchase.

The landscape for streaming hardware has experienced a noticeable shift in recent months, with prices creeping upward across major manufacturers. This inflationary trend leaves shoppers with fewer economical choices for upgrading their living room entertainment setups. Revisiting the Walmart Onn 4K Pro, which launched earlier this year and has spent months deployed in daily household testing, highlights just how stark the contrast is. Put simply, the device gets the job done exceptionally well, offering a tremendous value proposition that leaves competing hardware looking severely overpriced.

When stacked up against its closest competitor, the first-party Google TV Streamer, Walmart’s alternative holds its own remarkably well across the board. The two devices run virtually identical software experiences, though Google’s official hardware naturally receives software updates and new feature deployments a bit quicker than third-party alternatives. Performance between the two streamers is also nearly identical during everyday use. The most notable hardware discrepancy lies in the memory department, with Google’s offering packing 4GB of RAM compared to the 3GB found inside Walmart’s box. For the vast majority of streaming tasks, applications, and navigation, however, that slight difference in RAM rarely translates to a noticeable performance gap.

Beyond raw specifications, Walmart’s streamer continues to deliver a consistently smooth performance day in and day out, while managing to outshine Google’s first-party hardware in a few subtle yet impactful ways. At the top of that list is the included remote control. Walmart’s design feels slightly more comfortable in the hand and features a backlit key layout—an invaluable inclusion that makes navigating menus in a dark room at night significantly easier. While the remote does feature a somewhat obnoxious dedicated "Free TV" button that some users might prefer to remap or ignore, the overall experience is overwhelmingly positive. Furthermore, Walmart included a physical "find remote" button directly on top of the streaming box itself, solving one of the most common household annoyances associated with modern entertainment centers.

The physical design of the streaming box remains unassuming, featuring a fabric top wrap and a compact footprint that allows it to blend seamlessly into any media console alongside other set-top boxes. While the fabric texture should present no issue for the vast majority of users, it does come with one practical caveat: it is wise to keep beverages away from the entertainment center. Spilling anything on the fabric top makes it virtually impossible to clean thoroughly, making a bit of extra caution worthwhile.

In terms of physical connectivity, the Onn 4K Pro punches well above its weight class. The device includes standard HDMI output, a dedicated Ethernet port for hardwired network stability, and a full-size USB-A port for connecting external storage or accessories. Crucially, the entire unit draws power via a modern USB-C connection rather than the antiquated barrel plug utilized by the previous generation, satisfying a long-held wish for universal power standards among tech enthusiasts.

All of these hardware features and software capabilities come together in a package that retails for just $60. While it may not introduce any radical, industry-redefining technologies, it represents a fundamentally solid streaming device that handles everyday tasks effortlessly without demanding an exorbitant price tag.

The single greatest hurdle for prospective buyers has not been the quality of the hardware itself, but rather keeping the item in stock. Following months of sporadic availability and supply chain headaches that left shoppers searching through local aisles and online storefronts in vain, Walmart finally appears to be distributing the Onn 4K Pro more consistently both in physical retail locations and through its website. Even so, local stock levels can still vary unpredictably depending on geographic location and timing.

For shoppers who find themselves unable to track down the elusive Pro model, Walmart offers a viable alternative in the Onn 4K Plus dongle, which retails for an even lower price of $50. In most functional respects, the Plus model matches the core experience of its more expensive sibling. Buyers who opt for the dongle primarily sacrifice the dedicated Ethernet port, the full-size USB-A port, and a slight margin of processing performance, making it a reasonable compromise for basic television setups.