Advise on upgrading my 2017 iMac

If the current system is working OK for you and the apps you use most why not stay with it.

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Have you gotten any malware? You don't need any of those types of apps in asked about above as long as you follow these user tips: : Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community and Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support.  

Like they say "if it's working don't fix it".

Oh, one thought: if you have a Fusion drive you might want to get an external SSD, clone your boot drive to it and boot and run from the external SSD. It will be quicker than the Fusion drive.

Just some food for thought.

Whichever Mac you get, don't skimp on the RAM.

All 27" iMacs had user-expandable RAM, but no Apple Silicon Macs do. Adobe recommends at least 16 GB for each of their main photo programs (Photoshop, Lightroom, Lightroom Classic). If you're doing a lot of stuff with Adobe's applications, you might want 24 GB or even 32 GB, to be on the safe side.

NightShift21 wrote:

Hi again, so I think I’ve decided on the 16in MacBook Pro M4 pro chip (14- core CPU, 20-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine).

Does anyone have any recommendations for monitors and hub to use? (Ideally an Adobe RGB monitor). I went into Apple and the guy in there said I don’t need a dock - just plug the monitors into the thunderbolt connection on the MacBook and Bluetooth the keyboard and Magic Mouse?

Thanks again for any suggestions or comments.

That MacBook Pro has

• Three USB-C ports that can support displays using DisplayPort Alt Mode or Thunderbolt, and
• A dedicated HDMI port

It can drive up to two external displays at the same time as the built-in screen.

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2024) - Tech Specs - Apple Support

Some monitors have USB-C inputs – a single cable can carry video, hook up hub ports on the monitor, and carry charging power back to the notebook. For those that don't, you can get adapters and one-piece adapter cables which go from USB-C to just about anything: DisplayPort, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, even older legacy standards, like single-link DVI and dual-link DVI.

A very small number of monitors want Thunderbolt input. Typically these are very-high-resolution ones like the 27" Apple 5K Studio Display.

padams35 wrote:

Important Note: The M2 Air only supports a single external display. If you suspect you may someday wish to have a dual-monitor setup while docked you will either need an M3 or newer (or an M-Pro/Max tier MacBook Pro).

For Mac notebooks with plain M-series chips, these seem to be the rules:

• Plain M1 chip – one external display
• Plain M2 chip – one external display
• Plain M3 chip – two external displays when the lid is closed; one external display when it is open. (MBPs with plain M3 chips did not initially support a "lid closed" display, but later got the feature via a Sonoma update.)
• Plain M4 chip – two external displays

There are no M4 MacBook Airs yet – but hopefully, if and when some come out, they will have support for using two external displays with the lid open, just like the 14" (plain) M4 MacBook Pros.

If you get a dock, the general rule of thumb is that

• You can drive one monitor with a resolution of up to 4K from a regular USB-C dock.
• You can drive up to one 5K/6K monitor, or two 4K monitors, from a Thunderbolt dock. (The monitors generally don't need to be Thunderbolt ones – it's the Thunderbolt connection from the Mac to the dock that makes the Mac willing to send two 4K signals over a single wire.)

You can find tons of "plain" USB-C docks in retail stores and on places like Amazon. Typically they will bring out video in the form of a HDMI port, and you'll get a few USB-A ports, an Ethernet port, and SDXC card slot thrown into the mix.

For Thunderbolt docks, I would recommend that you look at the offerings from

• Other World Computing
• SonnetTech
• CalDigit

Those three vendors have been in the business of selling high-end Thunderbolt gear to Mac users for many years.

How would - say the M2 - MacBooks compare in terms of performance compared to my 2017 iMac?

The M2 series MacBook Air model was discontinued about a year ago, but the M3 series will run rings around it. Expect an approximate 300% to 400% performance increase.

Docking a laptop to external monitors as a desktop replacement works well for all but the heaviest loads, especially if one needs a portable laptop of some form anyway.

A baseline M2 is significantly faster than a 2017 i7 for anything CPU heavy or involving basic 2D image processing. However for 3D rendering and complex GPU work a Radeon Pro 580 is roughly comparable to a 16-gpu-core M2-Pro.

Important Note: The M2 Air only supports a single external display. If you suspect you may someday wish to have a dual-monitor setup while docked you will either need an M3 or newer (or an M-Pro/Max tier MacBook Pro).

John Galt wrote:

The M2 series MacBook Air model was discontinued about a year ago

Apple has not completely discontinued the 13" M2 MacBook Air. They have one left in their new Mac lineup as a price-point model. They have discontinued the 15" M2 MacBook Airs.

Or use a display link dock, that works as well but native support is always better