I currently have an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014). It’s been a workhorse for me and I’ve absolutely loved it. Time to upgrade, though, and I’m keen to try out the new M chips.

Issue I have is that most new Macs I look at seem to be a compromise on what I already have. So I’m hoping for some recommendations from the experts here.

First off, I can’t find a new iMac that is an upgrade but allows me to keep (at minimum) what I already have: namely the 5K retina 27 inch screen and 32GB RAM.

I see there’s a relatively new version of the iMac with the M1 chip. However, there only seems to be a 24 inch screen version, which seems odd.

So I can’t opt for that as dropping down in screen size would be too much of a compromise, especially as I’m paying more for it to upgrade.

Secondly, I maxed this current 2014 iMac out with 32GB. In the absence of finding a newer equivalent iMac, I started looking at the Mac Mini range.

I saw a recommendation on a blog post that the M chip Mac Mini with a 27inch Studio Display screen would be essentially what a new version of the iMac 27-inch WOULD have been like if Apple had made one.

However, issue here is the RAM. I can’t find a Mac Mini with 32GB RAM. Seems to be only 8GB, 16GB or 24GB as a maximum.

Am I overvaluing the RAM side of the equation here, though?

Would stepping up to the M2 chip on the Mac Mini Pro be enough extra power despite the RAM seemingly being so low.

I do a bit of video editing, btw, but not a tonne. I like to have a fast machine, though, and I feel like taking a hit on RAM is pointless as this is meant to be an upgrade!

Do I have any other options? Money isn’t a huge factor here, although I don’t really have a use-case to get the top of the range machine.

I just find it a bit odd that I can’t just find something equivalent but upgraded.

As I’m looking to throw down some cash, I obviously want to maintain or improve things and not compromise here.

In an ideal world, I’d just buy the new 27-inch iMac model, but as they haven’t done that with the M chips, I’m thrown a bit of a curveball.