We sometimes get the question: "What do I need to run Breeze?" The simple answer is, "An internet connection and a modern web browser." However, for those of you who are more technically inclined, or just curious, you might want more additional or specific details. This article aims to provide more detailed information when this question arises.
Minimum Internet Requirements
Generally, we recommend a high speed Internet connection of at least 10 Mbps download / 3 Mbps upload to use Breeze at an acceptable level of service. You can use Breeze with lower speeds, however, you will likely experience frustration in terms of speed and perceived responsiveness, especially when printing name tags.
There are other factors in play that can impact Breeze performance (network congestion, older/slower computer processors, etc...). But in terms of raw internet speed, 10 Mbps Down & 3 Mbps Up is a minimum requirement.
You can test your Internet speed here: http://www.speedtest.net The results (as of this article), look like this:
Recommended Internet Browsers
A modern Internet browser is required in order for Breeze to operate and perform as intended, the below options will work well with Breeze:
- Chrome, is our preference at Breeze.
- Safari
- Microsoft Edge (v. 80 or later)
- Firefox.
Internet Explorer is no longer supported by Breeze.
Recommended Computers
Mac Minimum Requirements
If you're an Apple Mac fan, pretty much any Mac computer manufactured in the past eight years will work. Newer is better - but even printing name tags on an older Mac will work without too much waiting or frustration.
Windows Minimum Requirements
Windows machines are a bit more tricky, only because there are SO many additional options (processor, video card, storage, etc...). Since we are looking at the general minimum recommendations, this is a good place to start:
- Intel Processors: At least a 3rd Generation i3/i5/i7 processor. With Intel, you can identify the generation by the processor number. Ex. - i3-3220 where the '3' in the 3220 defines a 3rd Generation processor.
We don't generally recommend Celeron processors. For normal web-browsing Celeron processors are adequate. However, with printing name tags, the extra processing power makes a difference.
- AMD Processors: 4th Generation A-Series or better
- RAM: At least 4GB
- Hard Drive: Breeze is cloud-based - not typically an issue
Bottom line: The best advice might simply be, "You typically get what you pay for." If you go out and grab a new laptop off the shelf for $300, the manufacturer has typically cut some corners to bring the price point down. This usually means a slower processor, lower screen resolution, slower hard drive, or simply lower build quality. We don't want to tell you how much you should spend, but if you're buying a new Windows laptop and you're on a budget, you should look for the following specs: seventh- or eighth-generation Intel Core i3 or i5 processor (they’ll have model names that start with i3 or i5 and end with 7xxx or 8xxx), 8 GB of RAM, a solid-state drive, and a 1366×768 or better screen resolution. If you're an AMD supporter, you're looking for a 7th Generation AMD A-Series APU.
Recommended Mobile Devices
We support both Apple and Android - apps for both are in the App Store and Google Play.
Apple iPhone / iPad
With Apple, it's fairly easy to recommend, pretty much any mobile device (iPhone or iPad) manufactured in the past four years won't have a problem running Breeze through a web browser.
- The Breeze App needs to run iOS 13 at minimum to operate
- The Breeze Check In App (to work with Brother Printers) needs a minimum of iOS 12.4 or the ability to update to the current iPadOS
Android
With Android, it gets a bit more complicated, only because there are more Android devices from various manufacturers. With this in mind, our general advice is that if you paid more than $300 for your Android device in the past four years, you'll probably have a good experience using Breeze on that device. You'll notice that this doesn't include the Amazon Fire tablets, and here is our reasoning: the Amazon Fire tablets generally don't have enough processing power to use Breeze. We realize that there are always upgrades, and you might have a good experience with an Android device for around $300. However, the same computer purchase logic applies to our mobile device recommendations in that you generally get what you pay for.
Breeze Platform
Original Breeze was built on PHP and MySQL. Breeze 2.0 released for in-app opt-in in September 2019 is React JS build on a Restful API.