Graphic Design—Minimum Computing Requirements
Hardware:
The Required Computer System: The Apple Macintosh remains the industry standard computer in the print design, publishing, and multimedia design industries. We require the MacBook Pro Laptop with Apple M1 Pro with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine, 32GB unified memory, 1TB SSD storage for all Graphic Design majors. The system we recommend is based on the newest technology, and the software that we require for our courses follows industry standards.
Software:
Graphic Design students should purchase the current version of Adobe Creative Cloud which should include Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Dimension, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe XD, Adobe Spark, Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Acrobat.
Operating System – Mac® OS X® 10.13.6 “High Sierra” or higher
- Processor – Apple M1 Pro with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
- Memory – 32GB unified memory / RAM, **Recommended: 64GB unified Memory / RAM
- Disk Space – Minimum: 1T SSD storage
- Video Display – Liquid Retina XDR display
- Graphics Card – Radeon Pro 555X with 4GB of GDDR5 memory
- Ports – Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3 port
- Connectivity – Wired and Wireless LAN (802.11). Internet connection and registration are necessary for required software activation, validation of subscriptions, and access to online services
- External Portable Hard Drive – LaCie Rugged Mini 4TB USB 3.0 / USB 2.0 Portable Hard Drive (LAC9000633)
Recommended:
- Tablet- Recommended: iPad Pro 1T with Apple Pencil or Wacom Intuos Drawing Tablet
- Camera – Recommended: Access to a high-quality camera (Nikon DSLR) or high-quality smart phone camera.
- Adapters – Recommended: 2 x USB-C to USB Adapter