Recommended Mac Laptop Hardware

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Northwestern Information Technology (IT) establishes minimum hardware guidelines to assist in purchasing a computer for use at Northwestern. Check with your individual school for additional requirements.

 

Laptop — Minimum

Expect to use the computer for basic productivity, running multiple applications such as e-mail, web browsing, word processing, music and video players, and photo organization.

Category Description
Model 13" MacBook Air
Processor Intel® Core™ i5 or Apple M1 Processor
Memory 8GB
Storage 256GB PCI-e based flash storage
Graphics Integrated graphics
Network 802.1ac (or higher), Bluetooth 4.0, USB Ethernet (sold separately)
Operating system macOS X 10.15 Catalina (or higher)
Warranty AppleCare Protection Plan

Laptop — Power user

In addition to the tasks above, expect to resource intensive programs for audio/video editing, graphic design, running multiple operating systems, storing large multimedia files and playing games.

Category Description
Model 16" MacBook Pro
Processor Intel® Core™ i7 or Apple M1 Max Processor
Memory 16GB
Storage 512GB PCI-e based flash storage
Graphics Integrated graphics
Network 802.1ac (or higher), Bluetooth 4.0, USB Ethernet (sold separately)
Operating system macOS X 10.15 Catalina (or higher)
Warranty AppleCare Protection Plan

 

Details

Details

Article ID: 2039
Created
Thu 12/1/22 1:29 PM
Modified
Tue 12/13/22 12:02 PM