Replacing a 2017 27" iMac: Mac Mini/Studio with M2 and ASD, or iMac with M3?

[exi]

A quick call for opinions:

Alongside an M1 platform-based MacBook Pro from a few years ago, I have a 2017 iMac, 27", Intel i7 at 4.2, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD. Looking to replace.

Amazingly still has a trade-in value of $250 last I looked (with Apple direct, anyway).

Generally used for typical office-style productivity -- Citrix, usual browsing/mail/etc, nothing special. Rare photo/video work. Not a developer but plans on getting feet wet one day. Occasional games.

Big fan of optimizing hardware at time of purchase, even if a bit of overkill, and am a bit minimalistic thus have enjoyed the AIO setup with my current iMac, but realistically, I don't have a particularly demanding workflow right now. I would like to have the horsepower to do more as I plan on doing so. Used to build my own gaming rigs and would like to retain some ability to play around on macOS, but I haven't played much for months.

As Apple has said they are not releasing a larger iMac, I'm debating one of the following:
1. Sell/trade both current iMac and current MBP towards new M3 Max-based MBP and purchase a dock with a 27" or larger external display, and consolidate into one machine;
2. Trade current iMac towards best-available M3 iMac at 24 GB unified, and keep current MBP;
3. Trade current iMac towards an M2 platform Studio or Mini with external display, though would like to get something M3-based if able.

Am a little skeptical of the 27" to 24" move and have read a number of threads from others who have done the same, overall successfully. I currently sit only a couple feet away from the 27" display and have to figure it shouldn't be THAT big of a deal.

Input welcome.

 

[Fishrrman]

It probably all distills down to the "screen size".

Can you live with a smaller display?
I daresay that most folks who "downsize" like that... find they are... dissatisfied.

 

[theluggage]

1. Sell/trade both current iMac and current MBP towards new M3 Max-based MBP and purchase a dock with a 27" or larger external display, and consolidate into one machine;
2. Trade current iMac towards best-available M3 iMac at 24 GB unified, and keep current MBP;
3. Trade current iMac towards an M2 platform Studio or Mini with external display, though would like to get something M3-based if able.

If you need a half-decent laptop, I'd go (1) - except a M3 Pro MBP would probably already be overkill for your uses. I suspect one of the reasons for the demise of the large-screen iMac is that with Apple Silicon - until you get to the expensive Mx Ultra chips - there's no longer any significant power advantage of desktop over laptop.

(2) Would almost certainly be adequate power-wise - nobody can tell you whether the 24" display will be big enough for you, but by all rights its a nice display.

(3) Since your current iMac is probably still getting the job done, I'd hold out for M3-series Minis or Studios if you want to go down that route: you don't need the power now, but if you're determined to go for overkill because "future-proofing" then you also want to buy something near the start of its "product cycle" to maximise the time that it will be supported. Personally, I'd prefer the Studio because its more repairable (even though its not upgradeable) with replaceable SSD modules and most of the connectors on daughter boards.

For (1) and (3) a 27" 4k screen won't be quite as pin-sharp as your current iMac - for that you'll have to fork out a lot extra for 5k - but IMHO the scaling "problems" with 27" @ 4k are over-hyped (considering the price difference) and as soon as you stop doing side-by-side comparisons with 5k you'll stop noticing. If you're happy to pay for a Studio Display that's fine - especially if you go for (1) since the SD is pretty much designed as a MacBook dock.

 

[CooperBox]

As Fishrrman mentioned, I too have read of many users who have downsized to a 24" screen (from a 27") and are certainly dissatisfied and with buyers remorse.
This may or may not help......
I was using a 2010 iMac 27" for many years and loved it and decided it was time for a change and was expecting a new 27" iMac to appear from Apple. As we know that didn't happen. When the new 24" M1 iMac was introduced in 2021 I went along to try it. Left alone I spent at least an hour in the store, as alongside the new M1 machine was a 2020 Intel 27" iMac. After an hour of testing and comparing both I decided there was no way I'd be happy with the 24" M1 screen after the 27" I'd be so long used to. Also with a superb Retina 27" screen and especially the sound which imho surpassed that of the smaller 24" iMac, my mind was made up. I'd get the 2020 Intel 27". Two months later I saw one for sale at 500 euros (550$US) less than the new price and bought it, and never regretted it - even with fairly intense video and photoshop editing. Now I'm not suggesting for a second that an M1 iMac is not superior in general performance to a 2020 Intel machine, but what I was particulary interested in was maxing out the memory on my 27" which isn't possible on the 24". And icing on the cake was the 64Gb Crucial memory cost me only 60euros ($65) instead of $US1000 had I purchased from Apple.
Some time later my wife purchased a Mac Mini M2Pro. A wonderful machine; I like it and occasionally use it for some video editing, but the truth is my 2020 27" iMac still doesn't pale in comparison, it's no slouch, and that gorgeous large screen is still a pleasure to observe.
As you've asked for advise, if money is not a concern I reckon your suggestion #3 of a M2 platform Studio or Mini with external display is the way to go. On the other hand you may be able to find a 2020 27" iMac at a super bargain price, and in 4 to 6 years time go for whatever new Apple Mx model everyone may be raving about.
Please let us know of your final decision and the reasons, as the choice may be useful to others too.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

If you need something now, my advice is to get an m2pro Mini and a good 27" 4k display.

If 4k isn't "enough" for you, you might consider the Apple Studio Display, but it's pricey.
Would you be willing to spend that much?

 

[exi]

Appreciate everyone's thoughts. In reading posts thus far, I'm thinking further that I might regret (as several mentioned) going from 27" down to 24"; although I do see some people feel it was a navigable change, I'm not entirely confident I'd want to do so.

No hard budget, but I'm not against spending an appreciable amount of money on equipment I won't have to modify or replace for years. I typically go by the idea of purchasing a step or two away from "maxing out" so as to not pay obscene premiums unnecessarily, yet still having more than capable hardware which allows future growth/more demanding workflows as I get more into such things.

Would be open to purchasing an Apple Studio Display, as I'm not opposed to a bit of a premium for a reliably good screen / build quality / integration, which comes back to the idea of awaiting a Studio/Mini refresh and "sucking it up" as far as an extra piece of hardware and cable on/around the desk, as much as I'd like to avoid that. As I don't require many wired peripherals, it sounds it'd just be a single-cable connection as @theluggage mentioned.

 

[HDFan]

As Apple has said they are not releasing a larger iMac,

They have said there will not be any 27". No mention of a 30" or ... No indication of it happening in the immediate future.

 

[tstafford]

Why not hook an ASD to your M1P MBP?

 

[exi]

Why not hook an ASD to your M1P MBP?

Thought of this last night also. Would be used where the current iMac is. While waiting for hardware refreshes, if I were to sell/trade the iMac and get a refurb ASD to save a couple hundred bucks, this would also be an option.

 

[exi]

As a small update, since reading the thought processes and experiences of others can help people finding this in the future: I was tempted to go with tstafford's suggestion just above of getting a Studio Display and using it with my existing MBP whilst awaiting the hopeful release of a >27" iMac in the future, as most recent rumors suggest end-2024 or 2025 for this. I decided instead to replace the iMac because of three things: one, those rumors are exactly that; two, I enjoy and benefit from the redundancy/"backup" nature of having two discrete machines; and three, as the current iMac is seven years old, there are many hardware and software features from the years that followed which it does not support (including Sonoma at all without hacks).

Will either go the Studio/Mini+ASD or iMac approach and update with experience and opinions on the switch.

 

[tornado99]

Remember the new iMac is 4.5K, not 4K. As a point of reference I set it to both the default 2240x1260 and 2560x1440 (which would be a 27" default). I went from around 70 to 80 lines of text in my coding IDE. So actually you're not getting a huge amount more information on the screen by going 27".

 

[za9ra22]

Appreciate everyone's thoughts. In reading posts thus far, I'm thinking further that I might regret (as several mentioned) going from 27" down to 24"; although I do see some people feel it was a navigable change, I'm not entirely confident I'd want to do so.

I downsized from a 2017 27-inch to M1 24-inch iMac, and I can see why there is a sense of people who have done this being dissatisfied with the smaller screen. I found it a bit disconcerting for a few days or so, and since I still had the 27-inch, I was tempted a few times to switch back.

I became very pleased I hadn't done so after a week or so. The reasons are a bit subtle, but telling (for me, that is). Firstly, sitting at the 27-inch had always been like looking at a wall. It felt very obstructive in an environment where I might at times need to see around and beyond it (it was on a desk facing the door to my office so the iMac tended to hide me from users).

Secondly, I couldn't entirely get far enough back from the screen to see it comfortably without having to actually move my neck up and down and side to side, so if I was heavily engaged in something like an InfoSec research project, I'd have neck ache by the end of each day.

Thirdly, the large screen encouraged me to clutter.

By comparison, the 24-inch was less obstructive and more comfortable to work with, and it encouraged me to expand the workspace with a second monitor off to the right on which I could better organize regularly used tools and controls, keeping the main display for better focus on workflow. Once I'd done that, I wouldn't want to go back.

 

[EugW]

24" screen is too small for a single screen IMO... if you need the space that is and if you're used to 27".

In my case, my sweet spot is around 29-30", so 27" is already a tad small.

Furthermore, in my case, it's not so much about the resolution, but the physical screen space. I prefer my current 4K+ 28.2" screen (which has the same pixel density as a 4K 27" screen) over the iMac's 4.5K 24" screen.

 

[exi]

Preliminary impressions:

1. Yes, the difference between the 24" and 27" screens is a little jarring at first. I do somewhat miss the larger screen and suspect that if the day ever comes that there is an Apple Silicon ≥27" iMac ±Pro, I'll be trading in. Thinking I'll probably be keeping this new iMac, but not 100% sure quite yet.

However, the vibrancy/quality of the 24" iMac (2023) is somehow refreshing compared to the 27" iMac (2017). I realize both iMacs have nearly the same ppi at ~217-218, the same 500 nits of brightness, and the same P3, though the newer one supports TrueTone. Wonder if screen coating is playing a role.

2. Even with the minimal performance exposure with setting up a new machine (iCloud synchronization/downloads, app launches and installs, etc), you can feel the modernized performance in the Apple M3 versus the old Intel i7 in every little thing, as you'd expect.

Incidentally noted: this is a 24 GB memory build, and with an uptime of ~45 minutes and doing little to nothing other than downloading software updates and iCloud sync, memory used is currently at 15 GB.

More to follow.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I'm amazed you're enjoying the screen size reduction

I'm firmly in the camp of larger and larger monitors being more and more enjoyable for me to use

 

[exi]

I'm amazed you're enjoying the screen size reduction

I'm firmly in the camp of larger and larger monitors being more and more enjoyable for me to use

I wouldn't say I'm enjoying it. Jarring = missing the larger screen size. But I'm finding that it isn't quite as bad as I thought it might be. The screen size thing is the only reason I'm not entirely set on keeping the new iMac, though I'm leaning towards keeping it in my few hours of time with it thus far.

 

[btbeme]

I have been disappointed with the size of the 24" iMac that I used as a substitute for my 2019 iMac 27" - after about a month I gave it back to the person I borrowed it from and relit the iMac 27". That said, I find it hard to use anything less than two 27" screens in front of me - the iMac and the Samsung 5k S27CP900 screen. I had been using a 4k Monoprice screen (about $300 as I recall) that worked out fine until it was swept from my desk by a cat. The Samsung is a decent screen for around $900 on sale - the 5k resolution is very comparable to the iMac in clarity and color.

My next purchase will be a Mac Studio once the M3 shows up in it. The Mac mini is a very close option; however, when I config it out to the max RAM and the large SSD I need , it comes to within $400 of a Studio that will (likely) have a much more potent processor as well as at least 32GB of RAM instead of the 24GB max in the mini. I'll add another Samsung too for my two screen experience. A very pricy replacement for a 27" iMac, yes... just goes to show what a great deal the 27" iMac truly was as a machine. I do some casual video work for family and friends, so the extra power, RAM, and storage are important to me. But the mini is a great deal as long as you dont max out storage - plenty of horsepower for casual use for most folks I would think. Add a $900 Samsung screen and you are within the range of what I imagine a new 27" iMac might cost if it existed.

 

[exi]

Well, it's finally getting to me. Certainly a lot of good about the new iMac, but the size, and the "toyish" appearance compared to the more monolithic iMac / iMac Pro of old, is bugging me more and more. Thinking this is going to be a return after all, with a MacBook Pro + Studio Display setup in its place in hopes of a larger iMac coming in the future.

 

[tornado99]

Preliminary impressions:

1. Yes, the difference between the 24" and 27" screens is a little jarring at first. I do somewhat miss the larger screen and suspect that if the day ever comes that there is an Apple Silicon ≥27" iMac ±Pro, I'll be trading in. Thinking I'll probably be keeping this new iMac, but not 100% sure quite yet.

However, the vibrancy/quality of the 24" iMac (2023) is somehow refreshing compared to the 27" iMac (2017). I realize both iMacs have nearly the same ppi at ~217-218, the same 500 nits of brightness, and the same P3, though the newer one supports TrueTone. Wonder if screen coating is playing a role.

2. Even with the minimal performance exposure with setting up a new machine (iCloud synchronization/downloads, app launches and installs, etc), you can feel the modernized performance in the Apple M3 versus the old Intel i7 in every little thing, as you'd expect.

Incidentally noted: this is a 24 GB memory build, and with an uptime of ~45 minutes and doing little to nothing other than downloading software updates and iCloud sync, memory used is currently at 15 GB.

More to follow.

You could try the wide gamut test. Does the W in the red square appear any clearer on the 24" than the 27"

Wide Gamut - Test Page

www.wide-gamut.com

 

[exi]

You could try the wide gamut test. Does the W in the red square appear any clearer on the 24" than the 27"

Wide Gamut - Test Page

www.wide-gamut.com

About the same, as expected with similar displays. Maybe just my mind playing tricks on me.

Back on the 27". Though I'm looking forward to new hardware, the extra real estate is better for my tastes.