Graduate students enrolling at The College for Creative Studies 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.
Email questions regarding laptop build requirements should be directed
to the CCS Helpdesk at helpdesk@collegeforcreativestudies.edu
Below are minimum suggested specs; better/faster/larger/newer is fine
as long as supported by applicable application software. Information
regarding software compatibility is available at https://campus.collegeforcreativestudies.edu/its/software-requirements.
MFA Color & Materials Design
Apple MacBook Pro
Educational discount available at Apple Stores or the Apple online
educational store (https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop).
- Processor: 2.6GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo
Boost up to 4.5Ghz - Memory: 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
- Graphic Card: Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Highly recommended
Windows PC
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS
- Processor: 64-bit Intel® Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel® or
AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores
recommended - Memory: 32GB of Memory
Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA® 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 CCS for all registered students - Microsoft Office
Available for free at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office - Keyshot
To purchase go to https://buy.keyshot.com/collections/keyshot-education - Rhino3D (Optional)
To purchase go to https://www.rhino3d.com/edu
MFA Interaction Design
Apple MacBook Pro
Educational discount available at Apple Stores or the Apple online
educational store (https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop).
- Processor: 2.6GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo
Boost up to 4.5Ghz - Memory: 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
- Graphic Card: Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Highly recommended
Windows PC
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS
- Processor: 64-bit Intel® Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel® or
AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores
recommended - Memory: 32GB of Memory
Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA® 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 CCS for all registered students - Microsoft Office
Available for free at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office
MFA Systems Design Thinking
Apple MacBook Pro
Educational discount available at Apple Stores or the Apple online
educational store (https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop).
- Processor: 2.6GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo
Boost up to 4.5Ghz - Memory: 32GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
- Graphic Card: Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory
- Hard Drive: 512GB SSD storage
- AppleCare 3-year protection plan: Highly recommended
Windows PC
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS
- Processor: 64-bit Intel® Xeon, or i-Series processor with Intel® or
AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple cores
recommended - Memory: 32GB of Memory
Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA® 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 CCS for all registered students - Microsoft Office
Available for free at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office - Rhino3D (Optional)
To purchase go to https://www.rhino3d.com/edu
MFA Transportation Design
Windows PC
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit OS
- Processor: 2 GHz 64-bit Intel® Xeon, or i-Series processor with
Intel® or AMD equivalent. Highest affordable CPU speed with multiple
cores recommended - Memory: 32GB of Memory
- Graphic Card: Supported NVIDIA® or AMD graphics card with a minimum of 256 MB dedicated texture memory, DirectX 11 compatible and OpenGL 4.3
support and a certified driver. 8GB Memory minimum. - Hard Drive: 512GB SSD
- 3-yr protection plan: Highly recommended
Additional Hardware
- Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet or similar
Small or Medium – https://estore.wacom.com/en-US/tablets.html
Required Software
- Adobe Creative Cloud
Provided through CCS for all registered students - Microsoft Office
Available for free at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education/products/office - Autodesk Alias
Available for free at https://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/featured - Zbrush
To purchase go to https://store.pixologic.com/zbrush-academic-license.html - Unreal Engine
Available for free at https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/
Recommended Software
- Keyshot
To purchase go to https://buy.keyshot.com/collections/keyshot-education - Blender
Available for free at https://www.blender.org/download/