IMac for a Graphic Designer?

I am currently shopping for a new iMac system for my Graphic Design needs and would like to get feed back form the community on a few topics. I am thinking about getting the 21.5 iMac with 8GB's of ram.
Would this be enough to handle Photoshop, Illustrator, and Cinema 4D softwares? I am going to get a external hard drive to store my files on to save hard drive space, any recommendations for that?
Is there an option to upgrade the ram in the 21.5 iMac to say 32 GB's (as I heard you could)? I am currently using a mid-2010 MacBook Pro with 4GB of ram and it's beginning to lag a bit. The screen size isn't really that great either being it's only 15 inches.
So any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
- KidHTML

As you have a specific and well-defined need I would work backwards:
Determine what software applications you will need, then figure out which model and configuration of iMac can handle them in the best possible/fastest way, particularly if you have them all open at once.
Also, depending on what kind of graphics you deal with, decide what screen size you really need.
Then talk to your bank!

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