The other direction is to use a high resolution 1x monitor, without anti-aliasing. Crisp, legible text, even at very small sizes: https://www.jefftk.com/xterm-vs-gnome-terminal-4x.png

I'm currently using a 27" external monitor at 2560x1440 ("QHD") and this is wide enough for five terminals side-by side at 83 columns each. (Monaco 10pt, anti-aliasing off, iterm2)