Yep to the OP, still enjoying my 2017 27" iMac over here. With 24GB RAM and a 1TB SSD it feels just as fast as the day I bought it. I'd happily stick with it for years to come, but the vintage status and lack of Apple Silicon is obviously limiting its capabilities.
The plan is to get a Mac Studio to replace it in 2024. I think I'll miss the beautiful 5k display terribly, but as of now I can't justify spending $1,600 on a "smart" display with the guts of an iPad and all the unnecessary bells and whistles that involves.
… I do wish Apple had not disabled the ability to use iMacs as external displays without extensive modification. They're all about recycling/upcycling until they want to sell you an overpriced, overspecced Studio Display.
Bingo. In Australia, Apple charges a whopping A$2499 for their Studio Display, and here I am with pretty much the same display sitting right in front of me, but I can't use it because Apple disabled Target Display Mode in 2014. If I were to sell my iMac, I'd be lucky to get A$800 for it. Kind of crazy isn't it.
I don't know if the shift to Apple silicone chips had anything to do with it, but there seems to've been a big paradigm shift at Apple. 27" iMacs with 5K retina screens, a good overall value option (if we ignore having to toss the screen with the computer, once target display mode went away), was eliminated. The 24" iMac remains, but that smaller screen is off-putting to many. The iMac Pro was discontinued and the Studio came out (which sounds like a 'headless Mac,' but you can't upgrade RAM or add internal storage, so it's functionally an all-in-one - monitor).
Initially, I was disappointed that Apple didn't update the 27" iMac with Apple Silicon. When I bought my 2017 iMac, I thought it was the best allrounder Apple ever offered, with an unbeatable (within the Apple ecosystem anyway) balance of size, performance and price. (The current 24" iMac, besides being too small, is right up there with Apple's ugliest Mac releases IMO.) But my current dilemma is a timely reminder of the waste that comes with a built-in screen, so I think my days of buying iMacs are over.
Yes I agree, the Studio would have been the Mac users had been demanding for years if it was in the least-bit upgradeable. It does appear that Apple has put profits above customers here. It has an opportunity to reverse that trend in the future if leadership ever realises that the best long-term business strategy is always to please your customers.
I'll probably end up buying an M4 Mac mini when it launches and trying to make the iMac work as a display with some of the hacks other people have suggested. If that doesn't work, I might have to buy a cheaper non-Apple display to go with it. 🫤
