Peripherals forum: Help with monitor choice:)

Hi everyone,

The title says it all really. Also there's a TL;DR at the bottom. Here's some back story, I am legally blind (my eye sight is 70/20 if that helps anyone) so I stick pretty close to my screens. Right now my current set up is this:

nVidia GT460m
Acer 21.5" 900p (VGA)
Acer 19" 4:3 (probably 10 years old) - USB VGA
LG 50" plasma tv (HDMI)

I use the TV for watching everything but with how small my room is it's straining my eyes like crazy (at best I get about 4-5' of distance from it) but my monitor is too small to sit back and watch movies and tv on. So I'm considering upgrading to a 1080p monitor, I just need to know size. Basically I do a lot of web browsing on my main monitor, game on it, and would watch tv/movies through Netflix. I'm debating on a 24" or a 27" here's what it comes down to:

Would the 24 be big enough to enjoy movies at a 3' distance? (I can see probably half as well as the normal person)
Would the 27" be too big for web browsing, graphic design work, word processing, etc?
Should I just stick with my current set up?

Money is no object but the more it costs the longer I have to wait. I'm also likely to buy 2 more of these monitors to use on a future PC build so it has to be good.

I'm considering these brands:
Acer (I haven't heard many good stories but my personal experience is excellent, mostly.)
Dell
Samsung
Viewsonic (only other monitor brand I owned, very pleased with it.)

TL;DR blind guy needs new monitor. Currently using a 21" 900p as main. Want a 1080p monitor either 24 or 27" Which would be best for a compromise between graphic design, movie watching, gaming, web browsing, photo-viewing. Plan on buying 2 more in future of same model.

Thanks guys, sorry about it being long winded but at least you have all the current facts.:)