iMac recommendation, more RAM or SSD?

[Rockytherock]

I am looking to buy an iMac pretty soon and am new to apple computers. Does anyone have a recommendation on the best configuration for Photoshop? I will be working on large scanned images (1Gb)and drawing with a tablet. I also use a keypad to perform rapid, sometimes complex, tasks. I do a lot of drawing, filling with color/gradients, etc. I don't use filters and some complex tools because my current computer comes to a crawl when I do, but I'd like to. Here's what I am looking at:
27" iMac
8Gb video
i7 processor
16Gb RAM
2tB Fusion drive

The three options I am weighing are:
1. Stick with that.
2. 32Gb ram instead of 16gB with Fusion drive.
3. 16Gb ram and 512Gb SSD instead of Fusion drive.

I'm looking for a future proof machine that I will have for a long time. Any thoughts on more RAM vs SSD? And sorry if I am rehashing a overused topic.

Thanks!
Steve

 

[ekuLoN]

%1000 third option

 

[trsblader]

Get the SSD of suitable size and 8gb of ram. Then upgrade ram on your own for half the cost.

 

[iShater]

Hi Steve. Welcome to MR!
Typically the HD is the slowest component on your system where the read/write times actually translate into real world waiting for things to happen. So an SSD will always be your best shot to overall speed up a computer.

You can always add more space externally later.

 

[velocityg4]

I would take the mid-range iMac 27" model. Bump the CPU to the Core i7, for the higher clock rate, more threads don't help Photoshop. Leave the RAM at 8GB and get the 512GB SSD.

Take the money you would have spent on 16GB from Apple. Buy a 2x16GB RAM kit (32GB). Then install it and have 40GB RAM for about the same price as Apple would have charged you to upgrade to 16GB.

Use a 4TB external drive (or whatever size you need) for archival file storage. Move your working data sets to the SSD and offload the to the HDD when you are just archiving them. It is better for your SSD to not keep it full at any rate. If you can and you need a lot of space for current projects. Get the 1TB SSD.