Laptop Requirements & Recommendations
General and Undergraduate
Students in departments that do not have a specific requirement listed below should follow the general recommendations. Before purchasing a laptop, we recommend contacting your department to confirm your choice.
Contact the 黑料专区 Helpdesk聽with questions regarding laptop build requirements.
The following are recommendations for departments that do not have a specific laptop requirement. Before purchasing a laptop, we recommend contacting your department to confirm your choice.聽Contact the 黑料专区 Helpdesk at聽[email protected]聽with questions regarding laptop build requirements.
These are the minimum suggested specs; better/faster/larger/newer is fine as long as supported by applicable application software.聽
Apple MacBook Pro
Educational discounts are available at Apple Stores or the聽.
- Processor: M1 Pro or Better
- Memory: 32GB unified Memory
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage or better
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Highly recommended
Windows PC
- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS or Windows 11 (Note: Windows 10 will reach end of support on October 14, 2025)
- Processor: 64-bit Intel庐 Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel庐 or AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores recommended
- Memory: 32GB of Memory
- Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA庐 or AMD graphics card with OpenGL 4.6 support and a certified driver. 8GB Memory minimum.
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD
- 3-yr protection plan: Highly recommended
Required Software
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Provided through 黑料专区 for all registered students
- Microsoft Office: Available for free ()
Communication Design & Strategy students enrolling at the 黑料专区 will be required to own or purchase a laptop computer for their studies.
The following information provides the minimum hardware configuration and software requirements. Any Apple MacBook聽or PC purchase聽made beyond the minimum requirements is your choice. This investment will remain current throughout your 4-year experience at 黑料专区. Our curricular approach blends this tool and software seamlessly into your learning experience and prepares you for working professionally.聽Please Note: All classroom聽demonstrations of software will be conducted on an Apple platform.聽If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please contact your Department Chair.
Apple MacBook Pro 16鈥�
Educational discount available at Apple Stores or the聽.
- Processor: M3 Pro or Better (M5 recommended)
- Memory: 16GB unified Memory (24GB recommended)
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Strongly recommended
Apple MacBook Pro 14鈥�
Educational discount available at Apple Stores or the聽.
- Processor: M3 Pro or Better (M5 recommended)
- Memory: 16GB unified Memory (24GB recommended)
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Strongly recommended
Apple MacBook Air 15鈥�
Educational discount available at Apple Stores or the聽.
- Processor: M4 or Better
- Memory: 16GB unified Memory (24GB recommended)
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Strongly recommended
Required Software
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Provided through 黑料专区 for all registered students
- Microsoft Office: Available for free ()
MacBook Laptops are Recommended to all Communication Design and Strategy Students but a PC Equivalent can be used as an alternative. Here are comparable PC Laptops. Top Brands include ASUS, Dell, Lenovo, HP and Razer.
Windows Laptop Equivalent 鈥� 16鈥� High Performance PC
Educational discounts may be available through manufacturers.
鈥⒙�Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 or better (Core Ultra Series 3 / X9 recommended)
AMD Equivalent: AMD Ryzen AI 9 400 Series or newer
Snapdragon Equivalent: Snapdragon X2 Elite (optimized for Adobe)
鈥⒙�Memory: 16GB DDR5 RAM (32GB recommended)
鈥⒙�Hard Drive: 512GB NVMe SSD (1TB recommended)
鈥⒙�Warranty/Protection: 3-Year manufacturer protection plan聽strongly recommended
Windows Laptop Equivalent 鈥� 14鈥� High Performance PC
Educational discounts may be available through manufacturers such as Dell, Lenovo, HP, or via student stores.
鈥⒙�Processor: Intel Core Ultra 7 or better (Core Ultra Series 3 / X9 recommended)
AMD Equivalent: AMD Ryzen AI 9 400 Series or newer
Snapdragon Equivalent: Snapdragon X2 Elite
鈥⒙�Memory: 16GB DDR5 RAM (24GB鈥�32GB recommended)
鈥⒙�Hard Drive: 512GB NVMe SSD
鈥⒙�Warranty/Protection: 3-Year manufacturer protection plan聽strongly recommended
Additional PC considerations:
鈥� Ensure support for DDR5 memory and NVMe SSDs (rather than older standards) to meet performance demands.
For design, video, 3D, AR/VR tasks, a dedicated GPU (e.g., NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 or better) is strongly recommended to handle AI-accelerated rendering.
Graduate
Graduate students enrolling at the 黑料专区 will be required to own or purchase a laptop computer for their studies. If you have any questions regarding this requirement, please contact your department.
Contact the 黑料专区 Helpdesk聽with questions regarding laptop build requirements.
These are the minimum suggested specs; better/faster/larger/newer is fine as long as supported by applicable application software.聽
Apple MacBook Pro
Educational discounts are available at Apple Stores or the聽.
- Processor: M1 Pro or Better (8 core recommended for rendering)
- Memory: 32GB unified Memory
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage or better
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Highly recommended
Windows PC
- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS or Windows 11
- Processor: 64-bit Intel庐聽Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel庐聽or AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores recommended (8 core minimum)
- Memory: 32GB of Memory
- Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA庐聽or AMD graphics card with OpenGL 4.3 support and a certified driver. 8GB Memory minimum.
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD
- 3-yr protection plan: Highly recommended
Required Software
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Provided through 黑料专区 for all registered students
- Microsoft Office: Available for free ()
- 搁丑颈苍辞3顿:听
- 碍别测蝉丑辞迟:听
These are the minimum suggested specs; better/faster/larger/newer is fine as long as supported by applicable application software.聽
Apple MacBook Pro
Educational discounts are available at Apple Stores or the聽.
- Processor: M1 Pro or Better (8 core recommended for rendering)
- Memory: 32GB unified Memory
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage or better
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Highly recommended
Windows PC
- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS or Windows 11
- Processor: 64-bit Intel庐聽Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel庐聽or AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores recommended (8 core minimum)
- Memory: 32GB of Memory
- Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA庐聽or AMD graphics card with OpenGL 4.3 support and a certified driver. 8GB Memory minimum.
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD
- 3-yr protection plan: Highly recommended
Required Software
Please note that only the basic software requirements are listed. As Interdisciplinary Design Studies is a customizable degree, some additional software may be required.
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Provided through 黑料专区 for all registered students
- Microsoft Office: Available for free ()
These are the minimum suggested specs; better/faster/larger/newer is fine as long as supported by applicable application software.聽
Windows PC
- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS or Windows 11
- Processor: 2 GHz 64-bit Intel庐聽Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel庐聽or AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores recommended (8 core minimum)
- Memory: minimum of 32GB of Memory
- Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA庐聽or AMD graphics card with OpenGL 4.3 support and a certified driver. 8GB Memory minimum.
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD
- 3-yr protection plan: Highly recommended
Recommended Tech
or
Required Software
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Provided through 黑料专区 for all registered students
- Microsoft Office: Available for free ()
- Autodesk Alias: Available for free ()
- Blender: Available for free ()
Recommended Software
- Unreal Engine ()
These are the minimum suggested specs; better/faster/larger/newer is fine as long as supported by applicable application software.聽
Apple MacBook Pro
Educational discounts are available at Apple Stores or the聽.
- Processor: M1 Pro or Better (8 core recommended for rendering)
- Memory: minimum 32GB unified Memory
- Hard Drive: minimum 512GB SSD storage or better
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Highly recommended
Windows PC
- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS or Windows 11
- Processor: 64-bit Intel庐聽Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel庐聽or AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores recommended, 8 core minimum
- Memory: 32GB of Memory
- Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA庐聽or AMD graphics card with OpenGL 4.3 support and a certified driver. 8GB Memory minimum.
- Hard Drive: minimum 512GB SSD
- 3-yr protection plan: Highly recommended
Required Software
- Adobe Creative Cloud: Provided through 黑料专区 for all registered students
- Microsoft Office: Available for free ()