I have a colleague at work who also has to get within 6" of the screen.
2 years ago I switched to a 55" 8k TV as my primary monitor.
While everyone was giving me the usual crap about it, this guy, when I showed him what it would look like with 400% Zoom, he went and bought one for himself at home.
He thanks me every few weeks, but still didn't dare to set one up in the office.
(ps I have mine standing on a normal height-adjustable table, so you wouldn't have to hunch at all)
I don't know if this will help you visualize it or not, but here's a photo of someone using a TV as a monitor on a desk
https://i.imgur.com/mjcqjfZ.jpeg
I use my 4K TV as a monitor (though from ~8ft away) and for me Windows' scaling (found under Display in Control Panel) allow me to easily read text from so far away
Maybe it could help you
The issue with the "keyboard in front of huge monitor" type of arrangement for people who need to get their face really, really close to the monitor is they have to lean far in and hunch over the keyboard, putting their arms in an uncomfortable position. Speaking from my own experience, this causes RSI problems fairly quickly. And the keyboard can't be moved farther back to allow the person's arms to be in a more natural position because the base of the TV or monitor blocks the way.
A monitor arm of the right length and height lets you sit so that the monitor is close to your face, floating at or beyond the front edge of the table, and the keyboard is physically behind the monitor, letting your arms be in a more natural position for typing.
The benefit of a big TV should be that you can move it farther out than the 6" you mentioned (and that the person is roughly sitting at), increase text size, but need fewer neck movements to take it all in — provided you can focus at bigger distances.
You are essentially keeping the same angular size, and by moving an 85" TV to 19" from your eyes, you get text to be sized just like your 27" at 6" (3 x 27" = 81").
Won't help with your neck issues though, since you'll have exactly the same issues.
Dude thanks for at least helping! And while he might not be comfortable enough to use it at work at least you were able to help set him up in his personal life. I had a colleague with a rare form of macular degeneration and this stuff is a game changer for him.
Precisely. The ideas here may not seem like much to some, but I am genuinely in awe of how much people are trying to help me solve this. I've had people contact me via the email in my profile offering help too. And I meant what I said in my original comment: fixing this would significantly improve my quality-of-life. That makes it difficult to convey how grateful I am for the suggestions.
This is an interesting suggestion. Like with most suggestions here, I have no idea if it would work or not, so I'm making a list of things to try.
One thing that would concern me a bit with this though is how I'd use my neck. To give an example, when sitting in front of my screen now, if I want to see the browser tabs at the top of my screen, then I have to tilt my head backwards to see them. But if I need to see the taskbar, I have to tilt my head down. It doesn't sound like much, but doing that all day rather than just moving your eyes instead adds to overall fatigue.
With your suggestion, I can't picture if that would still be required or not. Thanks for sharing the idea. I'll look into it.