The smallest C5 for much less.

Image credit: LG/Eurogamer

LG's smallest 42-inch OLED is a versatile customer that is equally adept as as telly in a smaller room, or as a oversized computer monitor - a lot of the good folks at Digital Foundry have used one of these hefty tellies in place with a PC, for instance! As the impending release date of the C6 approaches, it means last year's C5 has been discounted quite heavily to make it quite a bargain. At the moment, you can take advantage of a potent discount code on this 42-inch model that makes it just £699 from John Lewis. With code SAVELGFD0029, it should drop the price from £789 down to £699 and give you free delivery in one fell swoop - that's a powerful code.

There isn't too much in the way of wholesale changes with the mid-range C5 model over its predecessor. There's a new processor inside, which allows for stronger 4K upscaling, plus webOS 25 that provides small quality of life changes, such as the ability to hide pre-installed apps and added support for 1440p/120Hz gaming. It also retains nice-to-haves from the previous update, such as a Chromecast built-in. With AirPlay 2 support in tow, it's an ideal choice if you're going to cast a lot, too - I've used it as a second screen for my MacBook Pro wirelessly, and it's more handy than you might realise. This panel also gets slightly brighter than the older model, too, for an even more vivid experience, even if we don't have an Evo panel on these smaller models just yet. The design is virtually the same in its entirety as the previous C4 with this new model, which is no bad thing - I've always been a big fan of the minimalistic finish these LG TVs opt for, especially as my 42-inch C4 looks very similar.

It retains the same full 4K/144Hz support that we saw introduced with the C4 with its four included HDMI 2.1 ports, as well as full Nvidia G-Sync certification alongside AMD FreeSync in terms of variable refresh rate support that helps make it an ideal pairing with a PC and modern games console. The four HDMI 2.1 ports also have ALLM support for the most responsive gaming experience possible, continuing LG's prevalance in our ranking of the best gaming TVs out there. The in-built speakers do support Dolby Atmos for more immerisve audio in supported content out of the box, although you'll of course want to move to a soundbar at least, or a proper surround system, if you're going to be consuming a lot of Atmos or other surround-driven content. One of the HDMI ports here is eARC to allow pass-through of Atmos to a supported soundbar, such as a Sonos Beam 2, Marshall Heston 60 or otherwise - both would pair nicely with the more modest size of this LG unit and aren't too expensive, either.

Underneath the small improvements and optimisations that this C5 series has brought, it is worth still remembering that this is an LG OLED, meaning you're getting the deep, inky blacks we've come to expect, as well as virtually infinite contrast and supremely accurate colours that make viewing everything from games to movies an absolute joy. Strong HDR support is retained with HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, although there's still no HDR10+. I love the way images look on my 42-inch C4, with deep blacks, sharp contrast and generally lovely depth that's made it just as adept with movies from my Plex server and games in HDR directly from my Xbox Series X.

If you want to grab a truly excellent small OLED telly at a bargain price, this 42-inch LG C5 for £699 from John Lewis with a discount code is a steal.