Kendall College of Art and Design
(800) 676-2787
17 Fountain St. NW,
Grand Rapids, MI 49503
Technology requirements vary by program.
If you are planning to purchase a new MacBook Air, we recommend purchasing online from the KCAD Apple Store. Be aware that you are not limited to these requirements and larger or more powerful equipment will work as well.
Program Specific Technology Requirements
Required Laptop
- 13" MacBook Air
- Apple M3 8-core CPU
- 10-core GPU
- 8GB unified memory (RAM)
- 512GB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- Additional AppleCare Coverage
Required software
- Microsoft Office for Mac (download for free through Ferris State University)
Required external accessories
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
Collaborative Design students should meet the technology requirements of the program they are minoring in
AFA in Design Studies students should meet the technology requirements of the BFA program they plan to enter upon completion of their AFA degree
Required Laptop
To draw digitally you will need access to a drawing tablet. Cintiqs are available on campus or you can purchase your own digital drawing tablet - see the recommendations below.
Configure your computer with:
- Processor: Apple M3 Max with 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU
- RAM: 64GB unified memory
- Storage: 1TB solid state drive (SSD)
- Display: 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display
- Inputs: Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, headphone jack, MagSafe 3 port
- 140W USB-C Power Adapter
- Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - US English
- Include 3 years of AppleCare
Required software
- Adobe Creative Cloud subscription
- Microsoft Office (download for free through Ferris State University)
Required external accessories
- Headphones
- 3-Button mouse
- 2TB external hard drive (or 2TB Google Drive subscription)
- Digital Drawing Pen Display: Huion Kamvas Pro 16 Pen Display (2.5K) with Stand
There are larger options available if preferred. We do not recommend pen displays under 15"
Required Laptop
- 14" MacBook Pro
- Apple M3 8-core CPU
- 10-core GPU
- 8GB unified memory (RAM)
- 512GB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- Additional AppleCare Coverage
Required software
- Adobe Creative Cloud subscription
- Microsoft Office (download for free through Ferris State University)
Required external accessories
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
Required Laptop
- 16" MacBook Pro
- Apple M3 Pro 12-core CPU
- 18-core GPU
- 18GB unified memory
- 512GB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- Additional AppleCare coverage
Required software
- Microsoft Office for Mac (download for free through Ferris State University)
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Apple iWork (Free with new MacBook Pro)
Required external accessories
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
Required Laptop
MacBook Pro- 16" display
- Apple M3 Max 16-core CPU with 40-core GPU
- 64GB unified memory (RAM)
- 1TB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- 3 years of AppleCare coverage
Configured PC Equivalent - Dell Precision 7780 Workstation
- 16" Full HD+ display
- Intel Core i9-13950HX CPU
- NVIDIA RTX 3500 Ada 12GB GDDR6 graphics card
- 64GB DDR5 RAM
- 1TB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- Microsoft Windows 11 Pro
- includes 3 years of Dell ProSupport coverage
Required software
- Microsoft Office for Mac (download for free through Ferris State University)
- Adobe Creative Cloud
Required external accessories
- Huion Kamvas Pro 16 Pen Display (2.5K) with Stand*
- Headphones
- 3-Button mouse
- 2TB external hard drive (or 2TB Google Drive subscription)
*Required for those Illustration students who are interested in working digitally and/or taking digitally-focused coursework.
Required Laptop
Windows-based laptops should meet or exceed the following minimum specifications:
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 or 11 64-bit
- CPU: 3GHz
- RAM: 32GB
- Storage: 250GB solid state drive (SSD)
- Display: 1920 x 1080 resolution
- Graphics Card*
8GB dedicated (discrete) memory
Benchmark score of 15,000 or higher
DirectX 12 compliant
Supports Open GL (Open Graphics Library) 3.1 or higher
*For rendering software Enscape (not required by the program, but students may wish to use this with the SketchUp and/or Revit software used in the program), the GPU has to have a dedicated VRAM, not a shared VRAM as found with the Intel Integrated Graphics chips. 8 GB VRAM and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Ti or AMD RX 6800 are the minimum requirements for Enscape.
Required software
- AutoCAD (required for KCID 235) – AutoCAD is available to KCAD students for free from Autodesk. Create an account using your @ferris.edu email.
- SketchUp Pro (required for KCID 250) – discounted higher education pricing is available for KCAD students.
- CETDesigner (required for KCID 350) – access to this software will be provided FREE for the semester you are registered in this course
- Revit (required for KCID 425) – Revit is available to KCAD students for free from Autodesk. Use the same student account created for AutoCAD.
- Microsoft Office (download for free through Ferris State University)
Required external accessories
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
- 2-button mouse with scroll wheel
Required Laptop
Windows-based laptops should meet or exceed the following minimum specifications:
- Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional 64-bit
- CPU: Intel i7 6-core processor
- RAM: 16GB DDR4 minimum (32GB recommended)
- Storage: 1TB solid state drive (SSD)
- Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce or Quadro model
Required external accessories
- 3-button external mouse (bluetooth connectivity recommended)
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
Required Laptop options
MacBook Pro
- Display Size: 14"
- CPU: Apple M3 8-core CPU with 10-core GPU
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB solid state drive (SSD)
Windows-Based Laptop
- Display Size: 14"
- CPU: Intel: i-Series or Xeon, 2.5ghz or higher
- AMD: Ryzen or Ryzen Threadripper PRO, 2.5 GHz or Higher
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 500GB solid state drive (SSD)
- Graphics Card: DirectX 11 capable graphics card with Shader Model 5 and a minimum of 4GB of video memory
Required software
The following is a basic list. Students with specialized interests, such as video editing or urban/GIS/mapping, may require additional software. KCAD has seats for Keyshot rendering and animation software.
- Microsoft Office (download for free through Ferris State University)
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- AutoDesk Applications (AutoCAD, Revit) - available for free to students
- Paralells - for MacBook Pro users, to enable the use of Revit
- Rhino - with Grasshopper plugin
Required external accessories
- 22" - 27" external monitor
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1-2TB or larger in size
Required Laptop
- 14" MacBook Pro
- Apple M3 8-core CPU
- 10-core GPU
- 8GB unified memory (RAM)
- 512GB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- Additional AppleCare Coverage
Required software
- Microsoft Office for Mac (download for free through Ferris State University)
- Adobe Creative Cloud
Required external accessories
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
Required Laptop options
MacBook Pro
- Model Year: 2022 or newer
- Processor: Apple M-series with 8-core GPU
- Display: 13" or larger (larger displays are recommended)
- RAM: 16GB (32GB recommended)
- Storage: 512 GB SSD solid state drive (1TB recommended)
MacBook Air
- Model Year: 2022 or newer
- Processor: Apple M-series with 8-core GPU
- Display: 13" or larger (larger displays are recommended)
- RAM: 16GB (24GB recommended)
- Storage: 512 GB SSD solid state drive (1TB recommended)
Required software
- Microsoft Office for Mac (download for free through Ferris State University)
- Adobe Creative Cloud*
*Students are required to purchase a subscription that enables access to ALL apps in the Adobe Creative Suite—not just Photoshop and/or Photoshop Online.
Required camera equipment
- 20 megapixel or higher DSLR camera (full sensors are encouraged but not required)
- 35mm SLR film camera with 50mm lens
Required Laptop
- 14" MacBook Pro
- Apple M3 8-core CPU
- 10-core GPU
- 16GB unified memory (RAM)
- 512GB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- Additional AppleCare Coverage
Required software
- Adobe Creative Cloud
- Rhino
- Keyshot (license provided by KCAD)
- Fusion360 (free for students)
Required external accessories
- Apple Pencil*
- Apple iPad (must be compatible with the Apple Pencil - more info on Apple Pencil compatibility)
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
*Students will need an Apple Pencil prior to entering their second year or before they can take KCPD 231 - Visual Presentation I. It is not necessary to have an Apple Pencil when you first enter the program.
Required Laptop
- 14" MacBook Pro
- Apple M3 8-core CPU
- 10-core GPU
- 8GB unified memory (RAM)
- 512GB solid state drive (SSD) storage
- Additional AppleCare Coverage
Required software
- Microsoft Office for Mac (download for free through Ferris State University)
- Adobe Creative Cloud
Required external accessories
- External hard drive for backup and storage of files - 1TB or larger in size
Required Laptop
- MacBook Pro*
- Additional AppleCare Coverage
*Laptop requirements vary from program to program. We recommend that, as an Undecided student, you carefully review the technology requirements for any program(s) they may be interested in entering before purchasing a laptop.
Required software
- Microsoft Office for Mac (download for free through Ferris State University)
- Adobe Creative Cloud
Required external accessories
Optional Software
- Microsoft Windows 10 or 11 64-bit*
*NOTE - If you are looking to run a Windows operating system on your MacBook laptop, you will need to purchase an emulator such as Parallels.
Recommended external accessories
- Laptop bag or cover for your computer
- Portable laptop lock