How should I configure my new 20"Imac?

That computer will be *plenty* for you. If it feels sluggish for you you can always purchase more RAM and install it yourself afterwards (it's really easy). 1 gig of RAM is a good start and more than that never hurt anybody...

 

1) I would just spring for 2 GB. It's not that much more and the price is suprisingly reasonable. Right now 1GB is fine for what you do, but as programs become more memory intensive, that extra GB will put you ahead of the game.

Plus you might find yourself playing around with the editing software onboard which will take up more memory. I feel I may start diving into webpage design...haha.

I am too in the IBM/Mac convert stage and still mulling over my purchase. I will be a little more advanced than you in that I will need 2 operating systems to comform with work requirements when I graduate college (accountant).

Plus, its not uncommon for me to have Word, The Internet, a DVD and email going all at the same time, so RAM is my friend .

 

Nice thing about a well equipped iMac is that you can write your novel, turn it into
a screen play, draw up your story board, film your story, edit your story and compose the music score.

For your immediate needs, a stock 20" Core Duo 2 would be fine, but I would
upgrade to the faster processor, more RAM and the 256MB GPU if you can.