My System
Dual-Socket, Intel Xeon 5160 Dual-Core "Wooodcrest" at 3.0GHz
* 8GB Registered ECC DDR2 memory
* 146GB Ultra-160 SCSI hard drive
* Windows XP Professional 64-bit
DUAL-MONITORS:
* Dell UltraSharp 21-inch primary (1680x1050)
* Dell UltraSharp 20-inch secondary (1600x1200)
No laptops involved in my graphics work, unless I am on the road and just want to play around with Photoshop to learn something more about that never-ending program.
Other Equipment
SERVER and STORAGE:
* Dell PowerEdge 2800, two-socket Intel Xeon 3.6GHz
* 1.1TB SCSI hard drive storage in RAID-5
* 8GB Registered ECC DDR memory
* 1Gbps wired network
* WiFi B/G/N
BATCH PROCESSING, VIDEO CONVERSION:
* Intel Core2 Duo 4300 at 1.8GHz
* 2GB DDR2 memory
* Windows XP Professional 32-bit
WORKSTATION (OR STORAGE SERVER) in progress:
* Dual-Core Intel Core2 Duo E6400 "Conroe" at 2.13GHz
* 8GB DDR2 memory
* Windows XP Professional 64-bit
* Two 1.5TB SATA-II hard drives, mirrored
BACKUP DEVICES:
* Western Digital WorldBook 1TB NAS at 1Gbps
* Maxtor 500GB USB external HDD
PRINTERS:
* Dell 1600n multi-function, black-white laser, fax, copier, with color scanner
* Dell 3100cn color laser printer
EXTRAS:
* huge "gaming" mousepad... WONDERFUL
* Microsoft Wireless Natural keyboard and mouse
* Wacom CTE-640 6x8-inch tablet
* APC-brand UPSes on all of my computers, monitors, and network gear
What I'd do differently
- Lower desk for better ergonomics
- Better lighting over my desk itself for those times when I have to use that annoying "paper" stuff :o)
- Bigger monitors - you can NEVER have enough monitor real estate. I waited too long for a 21" wide screen, and now that I run dual monitors, I don't know how I got along without them
- Bigger, better, more sensitive pen tablet and would use it more often
- I would consider an Apple computer since all the pros use it with Photoshop... must be something about a Mac over Windows for that
- Apple's new Intel Nehalem-based laptops are soon out... will consider getting of of those.
Is graphics your occupation or a hobby?
Graphics has been a hobby of mine since the 1980's when rudimentary graphics packages would allow you to edit pixels! At that time it was amazing. But graphics were VERY low resolution (64x64 pixels!) Now graphics is an extension of my photography hobby.
What type of graphic projects do you do?
Mostly I do "beauty retouches" to clean-up the portraits that I shoot. No Vogue or Cosmo-style glamor retouches. It's fun to see how others do re-touching (including glamor) from ReTouchPro.com. I sometimes do photo restoration from my father's old collection of family photos.
What graphics software do you use?
I was a long-time Paint Shop Pro user, but despite PSP's ability to use Photoshop plugins now, I uninstalled it and forced myself to learn Photoshop (that's only been a few years ago, so I am still learning!)
* Adobe Photoshop CS3
* Adobe Lightroom 2.0
* ACDSee 2.5 Pro
Anything else? (inspiring music, your view, etc.)
Pink Floyd seems to be my background music of choice when I am head-down working on photos or web graphics. I also need uninterrupted stretches of time to stay focused... I hate it when the phone rings off the hook when I'm working.
