Thanks for replying. I only use LTS versions. Also, anything even remotely resembling Unity gives me a headache !! Mate is my preferred DE, but their own version tends to come out a bit slower than straight Ubuntu. My query regards not the LTS facet of it - but whatever may actually be so different or better...otherwise I am fine just staying with 17.04 (EOL does not worry me). What was freaky to me with 17.04 NOT truly being an LTS, so that basically there's been none since 16.04. That all is why I saw no reason to bother with 17.10 - too short a time between changes seems silly to me.
I can't say for certain, but I think the same will apply to Linux Mint 19 as well. Clem posted the release announcement for LM19 on the forum, and I replied to the thread asking whether or not there will be a 32 bit version of Linux Mint 19 available. There were a lot of replies from other users, all based on personal opinions and speculation, but Clem himself never responded.