Hardware comparison
MacBook Pro / Mac Studio M5 Max (128GB) vs Mac Studio M5 Ultra (256GB) for local LLMs
How the two stack up for running open-source LLMs locally — memory, bandwidth, price, and how many of the 69 tracked models each one can run.
Scroll sideways to compare both machines. Keyboard: focus the table, then use the arrow keys. Metric names stay visible.
| Hardware | MacBook Pro / Mac Studio M5 Max (128GB) | Mac Studio M5 Ultra (256GB) |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 128.0 GB | 256.0 GB (better for this comparison) |
| Bandwidth | 614 GB/s | 1228 GB/s (better for this comparison) |
| Price (approx) | $5,099 (better for this comparison)Complete system | $9,499Complete system |
| LLMs it runs | 62 of 69 | 65 of 69 (better for this comparison) |
| Best model it runs | Gemma 4 31BQ6_K · estimated 14–22 tok/s | Hunyuan Hy3 (MoE)Q3_K_M · estimated 52–78 tok/s |
Both prices cover complete systems. Prices are approximate catalog estimates; check current configurations and prices before buying.
The recommended models and quants differ. These estimated speeds are not a like-for-like comparison. Estimates use 4,096 context tokens, llama.cpp and one stream.
The Mac Studio M5 Ultra (256GB) runs 3 more of the tracked models (65 vs 62), thanks to its 256.0 GB of memory. The Mac Studio M5 Ultra (256GB) has more memory bandwidth (1228 GB/s). Higher bandwidth can help generation speed, but model, quant, architecture and runtime also affect the estimates.