Question Do newer laptops somehow look better when playing games on older HDMI TVs?

[Titanion]

My son plays some games on our 55" 2K Visio and they look pretty good. I am about to pull an older Sayno 50" HDMI 1080p TV down from our attic, and are games just going to look very bad on it? Or does the newer software and the video card drivers help out a lot?

 

[ex_bubblehead]

There may be differences between the old and new displays due to aging of components in the heat of the attic, but software is software and there are no differences there.

 

[Titanion]

I was maybe thinking Super Visual Resolution or something like that comes into play, but I know the old school facts about using TVs as monitors ("they suck" must be the scientific explanation). I am trying to talk myself out of buying a new TV when we have an old 50" one in storage. So an XBox will still look OK on it, but not a laptop playing Elden Ring...

 

[Titanion]

So what is it that makes a tv "ok" when projecting a 1080p game to it for a bigger screen, from a laptop and HDMI cable?

2k or 4k instead of 720p or 1080p? 120Hz instead of 60Hz?

If I am looking for a ~40ish size tv during the January of February Super Bowl" sales, what key points should I look for?

I will be tempted to just but the cheapest 4k 43" known name brand (maybe Vizio) one on sale.

Thanks