Ultimate Web Designer/SEO Pro PC?

[Thundercow]

Here's a question I haven't heard asked or answered very often: What's the best setup for a PC if you do web design and SEO for a living?

I don't know much about hardware, but here's some things I have now, or are considering for my next PC:

1. Twin monitors, high-quality with accurate color.
2. A fast, accurate graphics card.
3. Presently, I use a mouse on the left and a 3m ergo-stick on the right to east fatigue.
4. Graphics tablet (on my wish list).
5. Twin drives so one is for data and the other for operating programs.
6. An absolute monster set of RAM chips.
7. Ergo keyboard (i use the microsoft black ergo one now)

Anything else? how can I take it to the next level?

[webnoob]

Well if it can run notepad I am happy

However, I personally think 2 big monitors are a must. I use 2 at home and one small one at work and I can certainly notice the difference in the speed I work. This is the biggest thing IMO.

[bbolte]

in all honesty, as long as you don't go totally budget, most computers on the market today will do what a Web Designer/SEO person would need and do it well. It's when you start talking about video and other high CPU intensive processes that things become necessary for higher end specs.

unless you just want raw speed/power, it's not that necessary to go high end.

[kohoutek]

I don't quite understand what SEO has to do with hardware?

For web design... computers are just tools, so you can use pretty much any 5-8 year old, outdated computer to do web design, even low-end animation and photo work.

If you want the best of the best, then go with the latest Mac Pro models or equally high-end PC power horses, if you're willing to spend around $5k.
You don't need them, unless you want to do heavy-duty animation. Even then you will most likely not use 50% of its power. For "normal" web design, any PC/Mac will do.

If you like drawing, sketching, and do a lot of logo work, then a graphics tablet might indeed be a good thing to have. I currently use a Wacom Intuos 3 A4 and it's absolutely fantastic.

Twin monitors... some people swear by them and find they're more productive with that setup. I prefer one large 30" monitor over two monitors, so it really depends on your personal preference.

You could also look into getting yourself three hard drives. One HD for backups, one to boot your system, and one for everything else. This works best for me. I have a blazingly fast Raptor that I use just to boot into my system, one 1TB Hitachi for backups and one 1TB hard drive for everything else.

Keyboards: My personal favourite is the DiNovo keyboard by Logitech. It's a breeze typing with it.

Mice: One of the best mice is Logitech's MX Revolution. Not the newest model but sturdy, fast, and precise. You can't really go wrong with Logitech or Microsoft for both, mice and keyboards.

Graphic cards... don't know much about them as I don't have too many options to choose from on my Mac Pro. Nvidia GeForce is pretty good, but I haven't a clue which models for PC are currently considered good.

Monitors... depends on what you do and what you want to spend. If you want the best of the best, I'd suggest Eizo. A Dell is also good. Like I said, depends on what you want. Most monitors these days are perfectly sufficient for web design. I use an ACD (Apple Cinema Display). Dells use the same technology, so you can save a lot of money by going with cheaper Dells and get the same quality.

[Thundercow]

What is that Raptor drive you have? See, I don't know anything about drives...

[kohoutek]

That's simply the name of a hard-drive model by Western Digital. They are usually small in size (I have the 150GB version) but extremely fast.

[Nick]

I love dreaming about my ideal setups, haha. I've just started using a 24" iMac at work, which I am loving. Coda is by far the best IDE I've come across and has seriously helped my productivity. It's also nice to have the power of a unix terminal for server maintenance. However, your system of choice is a personal decision.

Dual monitors is a must. I have an external HD for backup purposes, and double internals - I've been crapped on too many times to skip redundancy.

Besides that, just one last thing - a comfy chair!