When setting up PHP Server for the first time on a computer and working for clients as a freelancer is it recommended to use MAMP/WAMP or set up Apache, PHP and MySQL manually all together?
I'd go with MAMP (or XAMPP, both are solid). Everything is configured out of the box for the most part, so you shouldn't run into any sysadmin issues. If you go the manual route, you'll be spending a lot of time configuring .ini files, ports, and other crap that takes from your development time!