Google TV Streamer vs Walmart Onn Pro: Which one should you buy?

Ben Schoon | Sep 24 2024 - 9:00 am PT

After four years, Google has finally released a more powerful streaming box for Google TV, but is the $99 Google TV Streamer worth twice the price of Walmart’s Onn Pro? Let’s weigh things out.

Google TV Streamer vs Walmart Onn Pro: Specs

Something that’s been lacking from most Google TV devices over the past several years has been raw power. Nothing has remotely matched what the Nvidia Shield TV, based on Android TV, was capable of. But both of these devices deliver in the most important ways.

In terms of processing power, the Walmart Onn Pro is powered by an Amlogic S905X4 chip, a quad-core processor that’s among the most powerful widely-used chips, but it’s still not really all that powerful. The 12nm chip is plenty capable, with AV1 decoding and up to 4k120 output, but it’s a chip that’s really hyper-focused on TVs, and as such doesn’t have much power to spare.

Google TV Streamer, meanwhile, is powered by the MediaTek 8696 chipset, we’ve confirmed. This chip is mostly unknown, but is the same chip used in the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max. It’s clocked at 2.0GHz and is still focused in on TV tasks (with AV1 support as well).

The main difference, then, comes down to memory. The Google TV Streamer is equipped with 4GB of RAM, the most in any mainstream Android TV OS device we’ve seen. Walmart’s box, meanwhile, has 3GB, the same as Nvidia Shield TV.

Performance on the two are very comparable in our experience, but the Google TV Streamer is noticeably faster and less prone to hiccups, likely thanks to the additional memory. Apps tend to load up faster and stay open in the background more reliably as a result too.

The hardware is a toss-up

The hardware surrounding both devices is something that you’ll either care deeply about, or completely ignore.

The Google TV Streamer has a thoughtful slim and wide design that’s meant to fit basically anywhere, whether that’s underneath your TV or on a cabinet. It has just three ports – one USB-C port for power (and external storage), one Ethernet port for wired internet, and an HDMI 2.1 port.

Walmart Onn Pro, meanwhile, has a thicker, but smaller overall design. It has fabric up top to hide the built-in speaker and microphones which can be used for “Hey Google” commands similar to a Nest smart speaker. Around back, there are four ports – Ethernet, HDMI, full-size USB-A, and a barrel plug for power.

Somewhat hilariously, the Google TV Streamer doesn’t include an HDMI cable in the box, instead selling one separately for $20. This only adds more value to Walmart’s package.

The remotes are also different.

Google TV Streamer has a rounded remote which has a simple layout of just 10 buttons, plus a navigational D-Pad. There are shortcuts for Netflix and YouTube as well as a fully customizable shortcut button that can be used to open the Home Panel, change your TV’s input, or open the app of your choice.

Walmart Onn Pro instead uses a generic Android TV/Google TV remote which has a lot more buttons, but in a similar vein has a customizable shortcut, buttons dedicated to opening Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, and Paramount+, as well as a dedicated “Free TV” shortcut and a button to quickly switch Google TV profiles.

The first Google TV devices that help you find the remote

Something you’ll find across both of these devices is a button on the back that helps you find the remote. Pressing this causes the remote to start making noises to help you locate it when it inevitably gets lost in a cushion or moved to another room.

This can also be accessed through a “Hey Google” command on Onn Pro, as well as through the Google Home app on both devices.

Software support really won’t be all that different

Google TV itself is a platform that gets many of its most important updates through apps, so software support between the Google TV Streamer and Walmart Onn Pro won’t be all that different.

The main advantage you’ll find on the Google TV Streamer is that it will likely get new features first, such as seeing the streaming box ship with the Home Panel and new AI-generated screensavers. Onn Pro is getting the Home Panel alongside other devices soon, but the Google TV Streamer will likely always get these first.

The Google TV Streamer is also likely to get more frequent software updates. Walmart has a good track record for updates, but they’re far from frequent.

It all comes down to price and preferences

At the end of the day, both of these are solid Google TV set-top boxes, and offer the best experiences the platform has to offer. So, ultimately, it comes down to what you want to spend, and what experience you prefer.

The Walmart Onn Pro is an absolute bargain at just $49.88, offering most of the same features as Google’s latest offering for half the price.

So why would you want to get the Google TV Streamer at $99 instead?

There’s an undeniable advantage in the Streamer’s faster performance that will likely also hold up better over time. The box also has a nicer design and a simpler remote, too, which many may prefer.

Really, you can’t go wrong with either, it’s just a matter of what you prefer. It also depends on what’s actually available. Google TV Streamer will be sold in more countries, while Walmart Onn Pro is only sold officially in the US.

Which one would you get?