Life: Should I get a Smart TV or a larger regular TV?

I am needing a TV. I have not owned a TV since 1999. There was a brief time that I had a roommate with a TV but even then I rarely ever used it. During that time, TV has changed quite a bit.

One of the new features is the Smart TV. I am torn between a 60" for about $1000 with a 55" with Smart TV for $1175. Is $175 worth a new feature but a smaller view screen?

At first, I was torn because the concept sounded nice but I could just connect a PC or laptop to the TV. I could probably buy a small micro box or used system. But it would be nice if it was automatically integrated with the TV. Then, what about updating the software? And who maintains the OS, upgrades, etc.?

After reading the reference-1, my thoughts were confirmed. There did not seem to be a good reason for me to get a Smart TV (although the thought of developing a third party application did cross my mind).

Technically, this will be my second TV purchase because I bought a 19" for $100 just so that I had a TV to test out my TV service. I really wish there was an easy way to continue to use the small TV without having to rent another top set box.

I've been reading about Chromecast. That appears like a nice solution for the small TV although I probably would not be able to get regular TV service on it.

Also like to mention that there are also different types of TV: LED, LCD, and Plasma. Today, most TV sold are LEDs (fortunately less thinking for me). There were a couple Plasma which are much, much cheaper than the LED of the same viewable size.

Update

Unfortunately for me, by the time I pulled the trigger there were no more un-smart TVs. >:o

But fortunately, someone happened to return a 60" Sharp Smart TV so it had a 10% open box sale. The person returned it because they ended up wanting a larger TV so it was practically brand new. Sweet! I ended up buying that for around $1200.

I've had it for several weeks and every show I watch is new to me, so marathons are such time wasters! The logical part of me is telling me that life before a TV was much better. I played around with the Smart TV but I do not use it much. I ended up buying a Chromecast and it has been great for me, so I definitely would not recommend get a Smart TV if you have the option and save a couple hundred dollars. Chromecast may not make the Smart TV function obsolete, but AppleTV, Roku, or Amazon Fire will probably come close and have additional features. Chromecast is the cheapest of the options. I have a post on my first impressions (reference-2).

Reference

[1] http://www.rtings.com/info/what-is-smart-tv
[2] http://douglastclee.blogspot.com/2014/07/review-chromecast-first-impression.html