Ventura update of iMac 2017, or new MacBook Air or Pro?

WuLi wrote:

2. If I decide to purchase a new Mac to replace the iMac, should I buy the MacBook Pro 16 in 5 Max, or the MacBook Air 15 in 5? I use Mac mostly for writing, but also research, including for AI.

It seems to me that you're looking at the "extremes", and leaving out options in the middle.

Compare Mac models – 15" M5 MacBook Air vs. 16" M5 Pro MacBook Pro vs. 16" M5 Max MacBook Pro

• The 16" M5 Max MacBook Pro starts at $3899 USD. That's with a 32-core GPU, 36 GB of RAM, and 2 TB of SSD storage (the minimum you can order on that model).
• The 15" M5 MacBook Air starts at $1299 USD and has a 10-core GPU. One configured with 32 GB of RAM, and 2 TB of storage (to bring it closer to the other machine) goes for $2299 USD. (A 14" MacBook Pro configured with a plain M5 chip, 32 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage goes for $2499 USD.)

In terms of word processing, a M5 MacBook Air should be more than powerful enough for that. The biggest "bang for the buck" would not be upgrading to a M5 Max processor (which would sit idle all of the time waiting for you to type another letter), but in getting a large (27" – 32") monitor, a desktop keyboard and mouse, and a dock.

When you mention "research, including for AI", it is difficult to quantify what that would involve, without a lot more detail.

As a small addition to Phil0124 solid answer: any Apple Silicon mac is much faster than your current mac. Any of the two options you described will run circles around your old mac. Unless you know you need the extra power, I'd go with the much less expensive Air.

WuLi wrote:

1. iMac Retina 5k, 27 inch operating with MacOS Monterey. Will upgrading to MacOS Ventura resolve my problem with very slow Apple Mail loading?

Pretty hard to say, without knowing the exact cause of the slowness.

Will upgrading be mostly issue free?

In most cases it should be issue free, but it's hard to guarantee 100% and the state of your specific Mac is unknown so there could be things in there that may cause an issue.

2. If I decide to purchase a new Mac to replace the iMac, should I buy the MacBook Pro 16 in 5 Max, or the MacBook Air 15 in 5? I use Mac mostly for writing, but also research, including for AI.

Seems like your workload isn't resource intensive enough for a M5 Max CPU, so I would likely go for the cheaper MacBook Air with the regular M5 CPU. Unless of course price is no object, then no reason to not pay the extra money for a more powerful CPU.