Undergraduate Interior Design +

Computer Requirements 

All Interior Design students not owning a laptop computer with the specifications listed below will need to purchase one by the fall semester of the second year. Transfer students may need to purchase a laptop sooner. Please check with the program director. This allows students to work on their own computer in studio classes. Our current advice for laptop purchases includes the following minimum requirements:

Hardware 

  • Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 or higher
  • Processor: Latest multi-Core Intel i-Series, Xeon®, or AMD® equivalent with 2.5GHz or Higher as a minimum requirement and 3+ Ghz processor as recommended. NOTE: AutoCAD 2024 does not support ARM Processors on Windows devices. 
  • Memory: 16GB RAM minimum (higher is recommended.) 
  • VRAM: 4GB minimum (6GB recommended)
  • Hard Drive: SSD (Solid State Drive) storage of 500GB minimum.  
  • Display: 1920 x 1080 (higher resolution recommended but might impact performance). 
  • Required Graphics Cards:
    • NVIDIA GeForce RTX or Quadro

Note: Most laptop vendors have built-in video cards or use system processor instead of an                                    actual video card. Our software does not run with Intel Graphics Cards.

  • Recommended Graphics Cards for optimal performance:

    • ​​NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000, 4000, 3000
    • NVIDIA GeForce RTX Ti, 2080, 2070, 2060
  • Pointing Device: external mouse with at least 3 buttons. 
  • 15′′ screen is recommended.

**If you currently own a laptop and would like to know the level of compatibility with our program, please contact Mrs. Lantz (rtlantz@mc.edu).

With the current state of software, the program requires purchasing a Windows laptop computer.  This is largely due to the fact that Autodesk Revit does not yet run on a MAC operating system.

SOFTWARE

Software should not be purchased/downloaded until directed by the instructor. Students are expected to have a laptop with Windows operating system prior to enrollment in ART 301 (fall semester of second year) with the Microsoft Office suite of programs (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint). While most of the software needed for the program is free for educational purposes, students are expected to pay for the Adobe Creative Suite (with the discounted monthly student subscription).

PRINTER

Students are strongly advised to purchase a color printer.

These requirements were updated in May 2023.