What are Prism's hardware and system requirements?

Prism's requirement are not special, and it will run fine on any computer purchased in the last few years. Here are the details:

Prism 10

Windows

• Operating System. Runs under the 64-bit versions of Windows 10 and 11. Prism 10 does not support 32-bit editions of Windows.

• CPU. x64 compatible. Note: Prism Windows is not currently offered in a version compiled to run natively on ARM chipsets (i.e. Qualcomm Snapdragon). However, Prism Windows can run on ARM-powered devices using x64 emulation which is now generally available with Windows 11

• RAM. For comfortable performance and responsiveness, Prism requires the following amount of RAM:

  • 2 GB RAM for up to 2 million data cells in currently open Prism files

  • 4 GB RAM for 2-8 million data cells

  • 8 GB RAM for 8-16 million data cells

  • 16 GB RAM for greater than 16 million cells

• Display. The minimum display resolution is 800 x 600, but the recommended display resolution for comfortable work is 1366 x 768.

• HDD. Requires about 140 MB (megabytes) of space on the hard drive.

• Internet. Prism must connect to the internet to verify the license when it is first activated. It will also attempt to connect upon every launch, and every 24 hours if the application is not closed. To continue operating, this connection must be successful once every 30 days (or 20 attempts, whichever comes sooner).

• Additional Information. Prism requires that the Microsoft Edge WebView2 rendering component be installed to correctly display pages in the Welcome Dialog. This is already installed by Microsoft on most new devices, but will be included with the Prism installation if it is missing.

Mac

• Operating System. Runs under macOS X 10.15 (Catalina) or later. If you use macOS 10.14, Prism will launch and seems to run OK, but we haven’t tested Prism thoroughly under this version of macOS and can’t provide much support. If you use 10.14, we urge you to update macOS.

  • Prism version 10.0.3 fixes a critical issue present in previous versions of Prism with macOS 14 Sonoma. These previous versions will be unable to create new files or open existing files on macOS 14 Sonoma.

• CPU. Prism Mac is delivered as a Universal Binary and will run natively on both Apple silicon and Intel-based Mac computers.

• RAM. There is no particular requirement for RAM on Mac. Prism will run fine on all standard configurations of Macs manufactured by Apple.

• Display. Requires a display with a resolution of at least 1024 x 768 pixels.

• HDD. Requires about  530 MB (megabytes) of space on the hard drive.

• Internet. Prism must connect to the internet to verify the license when it is first activated. It will also attempt to connect upon every launch, and every 24 hours if the application is not closed. To continue operating, this connection must be successful once every 30 days (or 20 attempts, whichever comes sooner).

Prism 9

Windows

• Operating System. Runs under the 64-bit versions of Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11. Prism 9 does not support 32-bit editions of Windows.
• CPU. x86-64 compatible. Note: Prism Windows is not currently offered in a version compiled to run natively on ARM chipsets (i.e. Qualcomm Snapdragon). However, Prism Windows can run on ARM-powered devices using x64 emulation which is now generally available with Windows 11
• RAM. For comfortable performance and responsiveness, Prism requires the following amount of RAM:
  • 2 GB RAM for up to 2 million data cells in currently open Prism files
  • 4 GB RAM for 2-8 million data cells
  • 8 GB RAM for 8-16 million data cells
  • 16 GB RAM for greater than 16 million cells
• Display. The minimum display resolution is 800 x 600, but the recommended display resolution for comfortable work is 1280 x 1024.
• HDD. Requires about 100 MB (megabytes) of space on the hard drive.
• Internet. Prism must connect to the internet to verify the license when it is first activated. It will also attempt to connect upon every launch, and every 24 hours if the application is not closed. To continue operating, this connection must be successful once every 30 days (or 20 attempts, whichever comes sooner).
• Additional Information. Prism 9.3.0 and later requires that the Microsoft Edge WebView2 rendering component be installed to correctly display pages in the Welcome Dialog. This is already installed by Microsoft on most new devices, but will be included with the Prism installation if it is missing.

Mac

• Operating System. Runs under macOS X 10.12 (Sierra) or later up to and including macOS 13 (Ventura). If you use macOS 10.11, Prism will launch and seems to run OK, but we haven’t tested Prism thoroughly under this version of macOS and can’t provide much support. If you use 10.11, we urge you to update MacOS. Prism 9 is unable to create new files or open existing files on macOS 14 Sonoma.
  • The most recent versions of Prism 9 have been updated to be compatible with macOS 12 (Monterey). To ensure compatibility with this version of macOS, be sure to update to the most recent version of Prism
• Display. Requires a display with a resolution of at least 1024 x 768 pixels.
• HDD. Requires about  130 MB (megabytes) of space on the hard drive.
• Internet. Prism must connect to the internet to verify the license when it is first activated. It will also attempt to connect upon every launch, and every 24 hours if the application is not closed. To continue operating, this connection must be successful once every 30 days (or 20 attempts, whichever comes sooner).

Prism 8

Windows

• Runs under either the 32- or 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8 or 10. The installer will detect your version of Windows and install the 32- or 64-bit version of Prism accordingly.
• Requires a display resolution of at least  800 x 540 pixels. So the lowest standard display resolution for Prism is 800 x 600.
• Requires about 100 MB (megabytes) of space on the hard drive.
• Must connect to the internet to verify the license when it is first activated and also at at least once every 30 days (or every 20 launches, whichever comes sooner).

Mac

• Runs under macOS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later. If you use macOS 10.8, Prism will launch and seems to run OK, but we haven’t tested Prism thoroughly under this version of macOS and can’t provide much support. If you use 10.8, we urge you to update MacOS. Prism 8 is unable to create new files or open existing files on macOS 14 Sonoma.
• The most recent versions of Prism 8 have been updated to be compatible with macOS X 10.15 (Catalina). If using macOS X 10.15, be sure to update Prism to the most recent version.
• Requires a display with a resolution of at least 1024 x 768 pixels.
• Requires about  130 MB (megabytes) of space on the hard drive.
• Must connect to the internet to verify the license when it is first activated and also at at least once every 30 days (or every 20 launches, whichever comes sooner).

Prism 7

Prism for Windows runs under either the 32- or 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8 or 10. Prism will run in a screen as small as 800 x 540. So the lowest standard display resolution for Prism is 800 x 600. While it runs fine on 64-bit versions of Windows, it is a 32-bit application. Prism for Mac requires macOS X 10.9 (Mavericks) or later. If you use macOS X 10.7 or 10.8, Prism will launch and seems to run OK, but we haven’t tested Prism thoroughly under these versions of macOS and can’t provide much support. Prism 7 is unable to create new files or open existing files on macOS 14 Sonoma.Prism requires a bit less than 100 MB (megabytes) of space on the hard drive.

Prism must connect to the internet to verify the license when it is first activated and then t  at least once every 30 days (or every 20 launches, whichever comes sooner).

Older versions

Prism 6 for Windows runs under Windows XP (SP3 only),  Vista or Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10 but not  under Windows 3.1, 95, 98, 2000 or Windows NT.  The display must show at least 800x576 pixels.  Prism 6 requires at least 70Mb of free disk drive space on Windows.

Prism 5 for Windows runs under Windows 2000, XP,  Vista or Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10, but not  under Windows 3.1, 95, 98 or Windows NT.  The display must show at least 800x576 pixels. 

Prism 5 and 6 for Macintosh are obsolete and no longer supported.

Prism 4  is obsolete and no longer supported.

Some Windows and Macintosh versions of Prism require Internet Explorer version 3 or later. You don't have to use it as your default browser, but Prism uses Internet Explorer to display help topics and also to send files via ftp (when you ask it to).