Advice buying 2019 iMac

If you are going with a 21.5" model get a minimum of 16GB of RAM, why becuase the 21.5" iMacs cannot have the RAM upgraded by the user.

If you are going with a 27" get it with the base 8GB of RAM and then purchase an upgrade (at about 50% of what Apple charges) for your upgraded RAM. I'd buy 16GB, add that to your 8GB and you have 24GB. If you take this route ONLY purchase RAM from either Crucial.com or Macsales.com. Why because they both supply very high quality products that work, charge reasonable prices and have excellent service. In short there is no reason not to use them.

For your needs, you will not see benefits in the CPU. You are wise getting a SSD but on the RAM have a minimum of 16GB!!

I STRONGLY recommend to buy a refurbished iMac but ONLY purchase direct from Apple!!!!!!!!!!!!! My last several Macs have all been refurbished.

When purchased from Apple there is no downside, they are identical to a new machine, have the same 1 year warranty, are eligible for AppleCare (strongly recommended again) and can save hundreds of dollars. If you don't find what you want the first time you look, then look very often as inventory changes very quickly.

$98 bucks amortorized over 60 months (about how long I keep my Macs) is $1.63 per month, to me that's a no brainer.