Studio display or hold out for 27" iMac

[WallySpoons]

I have a 5K 27" iMac (2014) which I maxed out at purchase with a quad core Intel i7. It has 25GB RAM and a 500GB HDD.
I also have an M1 MacBook pro with 16GB RAM and a 250GB HBB. Most of my storage is on iCloud Drive from both machines (which effectively mirror each other via iCloud drive) - this means I can work from home and away easily.

My workflow is mainly email, documents, spreadsheets and Teams meetings. No graphic hungry applications.

The iMac is becoming a little twitchy - occasional odd behaviours, files not opening, odd crashing. And it does not support Ventura or Monterey. I worried it's going to fail and I have a few sensitive documents that I cannot keep in the cloud.

So Q: do I just get a Studio display and attach to my M1 MacBook when I am at home (with the advantage that I then have 1 computer to keep up to date, not 2) or wait for a new 27" iMac to be released?

First world problems!

Thanks

C

PS - I really don't like the design of the current 24" iMacs so don't want one of them.

 

[Bigwaff]

I have a few sensitive documents that I cannot keep in the cloud.

Use a NAS drive and share the “sensitive documents” between the two computers.

With that out of the way, do you want advice on stabilizing the older iMac?

 

[WallySpoons]

YES! That would save me ££££! Thanks.
Sensitive documents are stuff about patients which UK and European data protection legislation is very specific about...

 

[Bigwaff]

Do you backup the “sensitive documents” to external storage or backup the iMac in general?

 

[WallySpoons]

iMac only, on an encrypted sparse disk image.

 

[Bigwaff]

on an encrypted sparse disk image

Located on external storage I presume…

Your iMac has a hard disk, SSD, or Fusion Drive?

 

[Basic75]

or wait for a new 27" iMac to be released?

That might be a long wait, AFAIK nothing is pointing to the arrival of a new 27" iMac.

 

[WallySpoons]

Located on external storage I presume…

Your iMac has a hard disk, SSD, or Fusion Drive?

Correct. External.
SSD.

 

[Bigwaff]

The iMac is becoming a little twitchy - occasional odd behaviours, files not opening, odd crashing.

Can you provide specific examples with as much detail as possible.

 

[icemantx]

For comparison, I just replaced my 2014 5k iMac with the Apple Studio Display and the M2 Pro Mac Mini and I am very happy. It’s as close to an M series 27” iMac as I could get. The added benefit of having the Mac mini (or any desktop Mac/MacBook as well) is that they can be replaced without needing to replace the monitor.

The mini + ASD work great together.