Everything you need to know about getting a Mac for Prime!
Yes, all students must have a Mac that meets our computer requirements. The requirements are different for each program - please review carefully to make sure your device meets our requirements. All students must have a laptop that meets these requirements prior to the start of the program (Tier 1).
✏️ User Experience Design
To ensure students are able to participate fully and use the required program software, the Prime UX program has a set of baseline standardized technology requirements. Students entering the program must have full-time access to a Mac laptop that meets the requirements below.
Minimum Tech Requirements: (Updated April 2023)
- A Mac laptop running MacOS 11 (Big Sur) or above
- MacBook (2015 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (Late 2013 or newer)
- MacBook Air (2013 or newer)
- 50GB of free hard drive space or cloud storage (cloud storage recommended)
- 2GB of RAM (4GB+ of RAM is recommended to help with Figma and Zoom performance)
We will be using the following tools throughout the program:
- Slack (Desktop Application) - https://slack.com/downloads/mac
- Zoom (Desktop Application) - https://zoom.us/download
- Figma (Web or Desktop Application) - https://www.figma.com/
💻 Full Stack Software Engineering
Minimum Tech Requirements (Updated April 2023)
Your experience will be better if you have newer equipment and software.
The computer must be running OS X Monterey (OS version 12.X) or newer.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212551
NOTE: Apple is currently updating their processors -- some models may be on the newer `M1/M2` and some may be on `Intel` -- Both can work, though you *may* have differences.
💻 Hardware:
In Person Hardware – Laptops only:
- MacBook introduced in early 2016 or later
- MacBook Air introduced in early 2018 or later
- NOTE: Macbook Airs with the Intel chip are not recommended
- MacBook Pro introduced in early 2015 or later
Remote Hardware – laptop or desktop:
All In Person Hardware is fine, plus these desktop options
- REMOTE ONLY Mac mini (2020 or later -- M1 mini, will need webcam)
- REMOTE ONLY iMac (2015 or later)
- REMOTE ONLY iMac Pro (2017 or later)
- REMOTE ONLY Mac Pro (2013 or later -- will need webcam)
- REMOTE ONLY Mac Studio (2022 – will need webcam)
You'll ideally want to look for the following:
-
- i5 or i7 processor
- 250GB-1TB storage. A hard disk drive (HDD) is A-OK! A faster solid state drive (SSD) isn't required.
- 8GB or 16GB of memory. More is better!
- Any M1/M2 Laptop will work, including M1/M2 Macbook Air
💭 Have more questions?
If you don’t see what you’re looking for, reach out to our admissions team at admissions@primeacademy.io.