Cleveland Institute of Art Laptop Policy
All CIA students are required to have a laptop. At a minimum, this laptop should support Adobe Creative Cloud*. Specifications for laptops suitable for Adobe Creative Cloud can be found here:
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Adobe Creative Cloud
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Minimum Hardware Specifications
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Operating System Recommendation
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Adobe CC System requirements webpage:
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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The majority of first-year digital work is centered around Adobe Creative Cloud*. Once students enter their sophomore year, they are expected to own a laptop which meets major-specific requirements, outlined in the table below.
* All CIA students are provided with FULL Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions. Students do not need to purchase subscriptions. Information will be distributed to incoming students before the start of the semester.
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Major
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Minimum Hardware Specifications
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Operating System Recommendation
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Animation
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- 15” HD display (UHD recommended)
- i7 processor
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB drive (solid state preferred)
- 3-year warranty
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Windows
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Ceramics
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Drawing
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Game Design
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- 15” HD display (UHD recommended)
- i7 processor
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB drive (solid state preferred)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 1060 or better graphics card
- 3-year warranty
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Windows
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Graphic Design
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Glass
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Illustration
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Industrial Design
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- 15” HD display (UHD recommended)
- i7 processor
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB drive (solid state preferred)
- nVidia GeForce GTX 1060 or better graphics card
(for Windows)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS* or Windows
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Interior Architecture
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Life Sciences Illustration
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- 15” HD display (UHD recommended)
- Quad Core i5
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB drive (solid state preferred)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Jewelry + Metals
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Painting
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Photography + Video
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- 15” HD display (UHD recommended)
- Quad Core i5
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB drive (solid state preferred)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Printmaking
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Sculpture + Expanded Media
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- 13” HD display
- 16GB RAM
- 256GB drive or more (solid state recommended)
- 3-year warranty
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macOS or Windows
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Some students may already own laptops that meet these minimum requirements. Students may continue to use these laptops for as long the device continues to support their curricular needs. In this scenario, students accept the risk that their laptop may not be able to address their needs for their last year(s) at CIA.
The student should select the laptop based on their curricular needs, individual preferences between macOS and Windows, and budget.
Support, and substitutions for the standard recommendations
Personally-owned devices will not be supported by CIA Information Technology, beyond a limited assessment. Hardware issues will need to be supported by the manufacturer, which is why every standard includes a 3-year warranty as part of the requirement. Questions related to how to run software are handled either through faculty or technical specialists, or through online support from vendors.
The Equipment Checkout will continue to provide a limited number of laptops for short term loans. These laptops are not a substitution for students owning their own laptop.
If a student has a question about whether a specific laptop will be suitable for their curricular needs, they are encouraged to check the requirements webpage for the software that they expect to use most heavily. All students should plan to have a laptop that supports the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, at minimum.
View requirements for commonly used software:
Please note that this is not a comprehensive list of all software packages used at CIA. In addition, some features or plugins for the above-mentioned software may only run on macOS or Windows, respectively. As of June 2020, Apple supports Boot Camp Assistant, which allows users to run Windows on their Mac.
*updated on July 20, 2020