1.83 or 2.0 GHz, RAM, etc

Hi All,

I owned a Mac in college (in the mid and late 90s) but haven't used one since graduating in 1999. I'm a journalist and novice photographer who wants to operate word documents, Photoshop (or Apature), iTunes and web browser (sometimes simultaneously). I've been wanting to switch back to Apple for years and am finally ready to do so, now that my PC is ready to bust. But should I go with the 1.83 GHz iMac or the 2.0 GHz? Will I really notice a difference in processor speed? Also, I plan to upgrade my RAM (to at minimum 1 GB) and hard drive (to at least 250 gigs). Should I do it myself to cut costs? Or is the cost difference so minimal that it's worth the extra cash to have Apple install it for me?

Finally, should I hold off until the end of the year or early next year to get an iMac with OS X Leopard? Or will it be fairly easy to upgrade the operating system? Thank you so much in advance! Sorry for all the questions but I'm new to this....

Cheers!

Buy the 2.0ghz if you can afford it, its not a big difference but you cant really upgrade it later with out replacing the whole logic board, You can upgrade ram and hard drives after the fact and save alot of money vs doing it through apple.

It pretty easy to upgrade the OS later, mind you, you will have to pay of the next OSX. so that is abit of additonal cost.