The School of Communication encourages all incoming undergraduate and graduate students own a laptop. For help with purchasing a laptop, please see the recommendations below.

Component Minimum Recommended
Processor Intel Core i5 processor or equivalent Intel Core i7 | M2 Chip processor or equivalent
Memory 8 GB 16 GB or better
Hard Drive 500 GB 512 GB SSD or better
Graphics 2 GB VRAM 4 GB VRAM or better
Display 13″ 13″ or better
Ports 2 USB 3.0 ports 2 USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports
Operating System Windows 10/macOS 12.6 Windows 11/macOS 12.6
For Cinema & Interactive Media Students
  • Recommended laptop specs above

  • 2 TB external hard drive w/ USB 3 or USB-C

  • 32 GB flash drive

  • SDHC (class 10) card

  • USB-C to USB-A and possibly HDMI dongles

Software for Personal Computers

The University of Miami provides access to a number of programs such as Microsoft Office for students. For more information on available software, please visit http://www.miami.edu/software.

Cloud File Storage

Students enrolled at the University of Miami have a variety of cloud file storage solutions available at no cost. For more information, please visit the links below.