I have a 42" plasma TV hooked up to a Windows computer and Mac Mini. I use it for playing games and watching movies. At 'couch distance' (~10 feet), normal siz

I have a 42" plasma TV hooked up to a Windows computer and Mac Mini. I use it for playing games and watching movies. At 'couch distance' (~10 feet), normal size (10-12 pt) text is pretty much too small to read. I have 20-20 vision. 16-18 is readable, but my eyes get tired of it after a few hours of following chat on WoW. I had no problems with crispness of image or anything of that nature. Granted, I'm talking 10 feet and you're asking about 4, so... grain of salt. Also, in my not so honest opinion, things you stare at all day are not things you want to go cheap on. Buy a decent TV if you buy one. If you have the time, find a model you like then set up alerts on FatWallet.com to tell you when one's on sale. I did that for my TV and got it (new) for $1000 (it's $1700 normally). If you want an actual data point at 4 feet away from a 42" TV, I can pull a chair up to 4' away tonight and use the TV instead of my laptop. Just ask.