We require all students to have a Mac computer to complete the program. This article outlines the hardware and operating system requirements for our User Experience Design and Full Stack Engineering programs.
The requirements are different for our UX Design Program and Full Stack Engineering 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). Students are responsible for acquiring a computer that meets these requirements.
✏️ 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
To ensure students are able to participate fully and use the required program software, the Prime Full Stack Engineering 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 October 2023)
- Your experience will be better if you have newer equipment and software.
- The computer must be running Mac OS Ventura (OS version 13.X) or newer https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213264
- NOTE: Apple is currently updating their processors -- some models may be on the newer `M1/M2/M3` processor and some may be on `Intel` -- Both can work, though you may have differences.
💻 Hardware:
In Person Cohort Hardware – Laptops only:
- MacBook introduced in early 2017 or newer
- MacBook Air introduced in early 2017 or newer
- M1/M2 MacBook Air introduced in early 2020 or newer
-
- NOTE: MacBook Airs with the Intel chip are not recommended. When being used for coding, machines with Intel chips operate very slowly and can have trouble running all programs required to code.
-
- MacBook Pro introduced in early 2017 or later
Remote Cohort Hardware – laptop or desktop:
*** Note that Remote is more intensive on your computer, opt for new and more recent models!
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 (2017 or later)
- REMOTE ONLY iMac Pro (2017 or later)
- REMOTE ONLY Mac Pro (2019 or later -- will need webcam)
- REMOTE ONLY Mac Studio (2022 – will need webcam)
You'll ideally want to look for the following:
-
- 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!
💭 Have more questions?
If you don’t see what you’re looking for, reach out to our admissions team at admissions@primeacademy.io.