GPU comparison
MacBook Air M4 (24GB) vs Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) for local LLMs
How the two stack up for running open-source LLMs locally — memory, bandwidth, price, and how many of the 48 tracked models each one can run.
| MacBook Air M4 (24GB) | Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 24.0 GB | 96.0 GB |
| Bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 819 GB/s |
| Price (approx) | $1,399 | $5,299 |
| LLMs it runs | 29 of 48 | 41 of 48 |
| Best model it runs | Gemma 4 31B · 5–7 tok/s | Gemma 4 31B · 15–22 tok/s |
The Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) runs 12 more of the tracked models (41 vs 29), thanks to its 96.0 GB of memory. The Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) has more memory bandwidth (819 GB/s), so it generates tokens faster at the same model and quant.