40" is a little small. 42" is getting there. 46", imo, is optimal for the technology.
You might want it bigger, but it isn't going to get much bigger than that without significant degradation in pixel concentration to the point where you are quickly playing with NES16 style blocky graphics.
46" on the diagonal is pretty much optimal, in my view.
I apppreciate that this might not be affordable to everybody, but it's not "thousands of bucks". It's accessible and
relatively affordable to the gainfully employed.
There is an
Insignia 46" LED which is, admittedly, SLOW for console gaming, and has poor contrast in relation to more expensive models. Still, it is AOK and a better image than you'll get from any of the projector models typically discussed on these forums. You can grab that at Best Buy for $600-649 right now.
There is a
kick-ass 5000 series 60Hz Samsung OLED with is 1.5" thick for $899 in my local Futureshop. It's
the same price in the USA at BestBuy. This would be the Triple A version of such a flat panel - the high water mark of this tech for electronic battlement purposes. You can do it cheaper than the price for this one, but this seems to be the best tech available right now. Extra Hz, be it 120 or 240 has ZERO impact on value-in-use as a battlemat. So keep your eye on this 60 Hz unit as it is being phased out in favor of 120 and 240 Hz tech. If this stuff interests you at all, please go into your local Best Buy and have a look at the model. You'll apprecaite the picture and the thin design the moment you see it. The gears will start spinning about 1 second after you lay your eyes on it
The beauty of the Samsung is that it is REALLY thin. Exceptionally easy to mount into a table -- and thin enough you can just lie it down flat on a table if you want without going the carpentry route. Plus, it's light. So you don't even need help moving it around if that's what you want to do. One person can easily maneuver that thing around without difficulty.
If $899 is the high water mark THIS YEAR? We are 1, perhaps 2 years at most away from a $500 price point for kick-ass thin LED/LCD models. You can already build a thicker 46" LCD or use a cheap 46" LED unit into a table for ~ $500-600 already. So I think, fairly stated? We're there already - right here -- right now.
While this is not
cheap, I am certain that there are THOUSANDS of ENWorlders who have vastly more money than that tied up in 3.xx hardcovers or miniatures than a mere $500-600.
My point being,
even at the absolute top-end of the tech curve, this is not pie-in-the-sky stuff we're talking about here.
We live in interesting times