Getting a Studio Display - best Mac replacement for iMac?

[TinaBelcher]

Followup to my previous post: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...he-m1-24.2393330/?post=32272632#post-32272632

So, I've decided I want a studio display and planning on purchasing one tomorrow.
I got a really good price, around 1400$. Still unboxed and with a receipt.
It's a really good price, considering they start at 2.059,74 in Scandinavia.

What would be a good Mac replacement for my iMac (2020)?
It's 32 GB RAM, with 500 GB storage.
I also have a 2018 Macbook Pro that I'm selling. I haven't used it since I graduated uni in early 2021, and now I just use my iPad with me when I'm traveling.
So, should I purchase the new MacBook Air, a Mac Mini, or Mac Studio?
My daily use is light to medium. I use it for web browsing. But let me tell you, I can BROWSE like a maniac. To the point where I got 30+ tabs open at once. I'm very ADHD like that. I watch movies on it. If I game it's something cheesy like Dolphin Emulators, cause I like playing those old Gamecube games. I lightly edit images.

 

[theluggage]

But I need advice on what my next computer should be, as it's only a monitor.
I currently own an iMac 27th 2020, 32 GB RAM with 500GB storage.

Impossible to answer without knowing what you are going to use the computer for! Without that, the best assumption is that you are looking at about the same "price point".

What processor/GPU does your iMac have? Since the iMacs ran from US$1800 (i5 3.1) to US$3200 (i9 with 5700XT GPU) it covers quite a wide range.

Fun fact: A top end 2020 i9/5700XT/512GB iMac upgraded to 32GB (at Apple's prices) would have cost you US$3200 + $600 for the RAM = $3800. A Studio Max system with 32GB/512GB and the 38 core GPU would cost you $2200 for the Mac and $1600 for the display. Total: $3800. I don't believe in co-incidences like that! It would be a pretty hefty upgrade in terms of CPU performance and comfortably more ports (more like iMac Pro levels) so that would be a reasonable thing to buy.

If you're replacing the low-end i5 iMac then a M2 Mini should be a worthy upgrade - but you'll probably want to get the 512GB storage and 16GB RAM options. For in-between, there are the M2 Pro Minis. For any of the Mac Mini options, though, you'll want to think about whether you really need 32GB RAM - have a look at the "memory pressure" in Activity Monitor on the iMac to see if it ever gets out of the green. With the iMac, which could use cheap 3rd-party RAM expansion, upgrading to 32GB was a no-brainer. With the new Apple Silicon systems, it's a more expensive option (and the non-Pro M2 can only go up to 27GB anyway). The Studio starts at 32GB so that's not a problem.

Or you might want to think about getting a MacBook Air/Pro and using the display as a display/charge/USB dock. With Apple Silicon there's not much performance difference between laptops and desktops - unless you pay for the M1/M2 Ultra Studio they're all using the same processors.

NB: Those are all new US prices, of course - I'm assuming that, since you shopped around for a bargain display, you'll also be shopping around for deals or refurb Macs - but it was really just to show what the "upgrade paths" are.