Yes, you can but I wouldn't recommend it. A 42 inch TV is over three times as big as a 24 inch monitor (4x as big as a 22") with the same resolution. If you were just watching videos you won't notice the difference, but if you're up close doing work you're going to see those big, ugly pixels.
If you are doing any eye-straining activities like spreadsheets or project plans or reading small text, I would recommend you stick with a monitor over a TV. TV's are not designed for detailed, static work and will cause severe eye strain over time.
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
Any decent PC has multiple outputs, so why not both? TV for when you're watching "Archer", monitor for those infrequent occasions when your boss walks in and you have to look like you are working.
__________________
Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
I've been using a 37 inch 1080p TV as my only monitor for years for both school work and gaming. Sit at a distance of around 4 feet. I'd never go back to a tiny monitor.
You can always hook up your computer to a TV, use it as a second monitor and also have a 24"or 27" monitor for your regular computing. I have two 27" monitors and a 40" TV but it's not exactly a working environment.
I would go with 24" or 27" high-resolution monitors over a TV, myself. I know you can get 37" HDTVs for a song now while PC monitors still are quite expensive when you look solely at panel real estate, but as other posters have mentioned, the resolutions and resulting pixel density are the reasons for that.
I ended up going with 24" instead of 27" as I couldn't fit dual 27" monitors on my desk at home in the previous layout.
That might have just changed with my move. Mwahahaha.
Can i buy a tv instead of a monitor?
