As a Web designer, there are specific hardware and software needs that are required to do the job. This computer setup for Macintosh Web designers provides all the essentials, and also gives you the hardware and software you need to design Web pages wherever you find yourself. You will have the equipment to impress your clients on site and the tools to impress them with your designs.
Written with assistance from Mark Kyrnin, About.com Guide to Computer Hardware
Apple Macintosh Pro
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The Apple Mac Pro desktop will give you the power and speed you need to run all your programs, including Flash, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Premier. Make sure you don't skimp on the memory (1GB, I recommend 2GB).
Apple Cinema HD 30" Display
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A 30-inch flat panel LCD monitor is essential if you're going to be able to readily view all your layouts and designs without having windows hidden. This monitor is beautiful, and allows you to have everything to hand for your work.
MacBook Pro
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A desktop is an important component of your setup, but in order to show clients what your ideas are, you need a laptop with built-in wireless capability. The MacBook Pro gives you the power and sophistication you need to show your clients what you can do for them.
Windows Vista 64-bit
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Testing your pages on a Windows machine is important so that you know that your designs will stand up to the browsers over there. Luckily, you can set up Bootcamp on your laptop and install Windows Vista there. And if you set it up as dual boot, you need only go into Windows when you're testing.
Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection
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Creative Suite Master Collection is the ultimate in creativity suites. It includes all of the Adobe design products including Dreamweaver, Photoshop extended, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign, Acrobat, Contribute. Plus all the production products like AfterEffects, Premiere, Soundbooth, and Encore. The Master collection is the ultimate Web design software package.
Wacom Intuos3 12x19 Tablet
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A tablet is a lifesaver for any Web designer. It is much easier to draw and annotate images with a tablet than any other pointing device. And the Wacom Intuos comes in three sizes if the 12x19 is too large.
HP ScanJet 8390
Scanners are great for creating background textures and getting photos and images that you don't have digitally up on the Web. I love the automatic feeder on this scanner to scan multi-page wireframes quickly and scanning both sides of a page in one pass.
Konica Minolta Magicolor 7450
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Nothing screams professional like a color laserjet printed brochure. And with this model, all your printouts will be of high quality.
Canon PowerShot SD 870
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When your client asks you if their building can be featured on the Web site, this handy pocket camera can do the trick in just a few seconds. At 8 megapixels, it shoots large photos that can be easily cropped down to your Web site size or even used in print work.
Sony HDR-SR8 Handycam
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Finally, don't count out digital video. This camcorder records HD video directly to a hard drive, you can record as much as you need to get your video ready for your Web site.
Do you have a set up like this? Or something better? What does your set up look like?
