It's surprising how little you need for a truly good setup. Me? * $1000 - One 30" monitor * $2200 - One 15" Macbook Pro, fully kitted * $100 - One

It's surprising how little you need for a truly good setup. Me? * $1000 - One 30" monitor * $2200 - One 15" Macbook Pro, fully kitted * $100 - One DualLink DVI-DisplayPort adapter * $1000 - One virtual development server running Linux * $250 - Amortized cost of the build cluster * $200 - Miscellany (keyboard, sound-dampening headphones) That's, what, two weeks of salary at retail prices? And the only thing that really needs to be replaced on a regular basis is the Macbook -- two years should be fine. Considering the potential productivity drop by making someone work on inferior hardware, I cannot understand why you would skimp here. I will tell you that if I ever work someplace that tries to hand me a nineteen inch monitor, or even two of them, I will shell out for my own thirty-incher and bring it to work with me.