I went through a very similar situation with my iMac purchase. My old one had died, and I was becoming overly dependent on my MacBook Pro. It took me a year and a half of multiple rounds of research (lot of Reddit deep dives tbh) to decide between an iMac and a Mac Mini + external monitor. In the end, I had to come up with my own decision-making system just to make up my mind. The most anti-climactic part was that I chose an iMac after all that 🤦‍♀️ This piece would have really helped me in 2024. Looking forward to reading more! :)