This is the setup for my ideal office, which I have made great strides towards actually having, thanks to my dear wife, Sheila. Items which I still need have been italicized, all other items have been acquired.
- Desk – An adjustable sit/stand desk.
- After extensive research I settled on the MultiTable Manual ModTable Desk.
- Computer – Dell XPS 8700-3313BLK.
- This computer is a beast. It has an Intel Core i7 4790 3.6 GHz Quad Core CPU, which after some research, seems to be one of the best performing CPUs one can purchase without jumping into another (much higher) price bracket.
- It has 16 GB of RAM. Yes, I do like to keep a bazillion tabs open at the same time in my browser. Yes, I do do application development with the lovely yet hefty Visual Studio. And, yes, I do run virtual machines.
- It comes with Windows 7 Professional (a nice touch) with a Windows 8 Upgrade license (which also means a free Windows 10 license once it is released).
- It has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 745 4 GB DDR3 video card.
- It comes with a 1 TB 7200 RPM SATA 6 Gb/s hard drive which I am going to use as my secondary (data) drive) and am installing a Samsung 850 Pro Series MZ-7KE128BW 2.5″ 128 GB SATA III 3-D Vertical SSD.
- Monitor – Acer B226HQLA (2x) – 21.5″ widescreen w/LED backlight, 8 ms response time, and height adjustable. ($150)1Also in the running was the ASUS VE198TL, a similar monitor with a 5 ms response time. Prior to this I had been utilizing for several years two fairly antiquated monitors – an Acer AL1917 and a Acer AL1717
- Keyboard – A wireless keyboard reduces the amount of wires (duhh!).
- Logitech Wireless Combo MK270 USB 2 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse ($20).2I went with this, it is low-cost, so if it breaks it isn’t a big deal. I was really tempted by the Logitech Wireless Combo MK520 USB Wireless Keyboard and Mouse which had better battery life and has a unifying receiver ($35).
- Logitech Wireless Combo MK520 USB Wireless Keyboard and Mouse ($40).3This unit gets the best battery life, and (along with the MK320) has a unifying receiver.
- CPU Holder – Mounts the computer underneath the desk so that the desk surface is available for other uses.
- ModTable CPU Holder ($39)
- Keyboard Mount – This ensures that the keyboard is at the right height for my ergonomic profile.
- ModTable Keyboad & Mouse Tray ($79).4I initially purchased a 3M Easy Adjust Keyboard Tray ($130) but had difficulty with setting it up, particularly because it runs horizontal. The ModTable option is relatively inexpensive and appear to run width rather than depth, which overcomes issues with the base frame, which runs horizontally around mid-way through the table.
- Monitor Mount – Not needed because the Acer monitors have enough vertical adjustment on their own.
- Multifunction Printer (MFP) – I currently have an old Dell 1815dn which works well for me. It is a bit of a beast and prints B&W, that said I don’t see any significant reason to move to something new. The only thing I’ve seen that I’d use in a newer device is its size and weight – the 1815dn is hefty and large.