Conceptual design techniques are used to investigate what aircraft configuration is best suited for liquid-hydrogen based medium-range aircraft. The baseline aft tank layout is known to have several aspects of its design that detract from its performance, primarily stemming from its large CG range. Three alternative configurations are examined, and it is observed that while the weight and drag of these configurations change by a large margin, the net effect on fuel consumption is moderate. Among these, the top-tank concept provides the best block energy consumption, while also improving on qualitative features of the design. Unexpectedly, the application of operational limits with the design of the baseline aircraft is found to result in much larger performance increments; at the cost of reduced flexibility for off-design missions.