Don't recall saying anything about resolution at all. Do recall saying having all relevant data on one screen in a easily read format is a good thing.
Don't recall saying anything about a particular lower size limit but do recall below a reasonable size it's nearly impossible to meet the above criteria.
I'm myopic. I unfortunately have occasion to sail in crappy weather. To date I've yet to find a touch screen on anything be it pad, tablet or chart plotter that reliably works. I've yet to find a pad/tablet I can read and use at the helm in snotty conditions.
Furuno comes close but also not there yet. Still, wired. Still not customizable to allow what peripherals you choose. Still ridiculously expensive.
Suspect within our lifetimes you will put on a pair of glasses or have implants or be projected holographic images. You will ask or think of what you want to see and there it will be.
The underlying engineering, AI, is well on its way. This compulsion to take hard one or the other positions will be irrelevant. Even now think many use both and will embrace the next great thing. In the meantime just hope the manufacturers stop adding useless bells and whistles to their programs.
You had talked about large monitors, enough space for split screens, and ability to read small stuff easily, so I took that as being about size and resolution in my response. I still don't understand how those things aren't dependent on size and resolution.
Furuno doesn't make a tablet, so I don't understand your statement about them coming close to making a tablet you can read and use at the helm. Maybe you meant their radar/app on a tablet?
As for peripherals, the only peripheral specific to Furuno is the radar. This is true for all manufacturers. Otherwise, we have 22 peripherals connected to our Furuno plotter, and none of them are Furuno. Everything works just fine, and all but the autopilot can actually be controlled through the Furuno plotter. The autopilot can be set to a waypoint or route through the Furuno, but all of its functionality is not available there. This is also the case for all manufacturers.
Which brings up a separate point about the current plotters - they are chock-full of functionalities that don't make much sense to me. For example, one of the peripherals connected to the network is our stereo. The Furuno sees this and allows me to control it through the chartplotter. If we had a Furuno AP, it would also be completely controllable through the plotter. Raymarine plotters can control your drone. And it goes on from there - if we had them connected, the plotter can control our lights, and AC/heat, and much everything else on board. We could use our phones from the plotter.
But the plotter is about the worse interface for these things I can imagine. It also is usually mounted in the worse place to do many of these things. I don't understand the need or want for this type of thing. I do understand the AP control because it would allow someone to not have a separate control head, although that is not how I like it. If one wanted networked lights, environment, etc, it would be much better done away from the plotter on a dedicated central device. I have no experience with drones, but the thought of operating one through my plotter sounds like immediately throwing $1000 into the ocean.
Other than that, standardization of marine communication has been a blessing for boaters. We are no longer beholden to a single brand throughout everything we want installed, and a 6yr old can install pretty much everything - it is all plug and play, with power for most stuff drawn off the network using a single cord with simple plug ends.
Personally, I'm looking forward to what augmented reality and AI will bring to the industry. I would like glasses with projections on them - look at a ship and see its information, CPA, TCA, etc. Even see its future relative crossing position with your boat. Look at shore and see a chart overlay or radar overlay showing you if things are what they seem. "See" channel markers and other things in the dark. The possibilities are endless and game-changing. People are always complaining about sailors having their heads buried in their plotters and not using their Mark1 eyeballs, but Mark2 eyeballs like above solves everything.
Mark