Hardware comparison
MacBook Pro / Mac Studio M5 Max (36GB) vs NVIDIA DGX Spark (GB10, 128GB) 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 (36GB) | NVIDIA DGX Spark (GB10, 128GB) |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 36.0 GB | 128.0 GB (better for this comparison) |
| Bandwidth | 460 GB/s (better for this comparison) | 273 GB/s |
| Price (approx) | $2,499 (better for this comparison)Complete system | $4,699Complete system |
| LLMs it runs | 51 of 69 | 62 of 69 (better for this comparison) |
| Best model it runs | Gemma 4 31BQ4_K_M · estimated 15–22 tok/s | Gemma 4 31BQ2_K · estimated 13–20 tok/s |
Both prices cover complete systems. Prices are approximate catalog estimates; check current configurations and prices before buying.
The recommended quants differ. These estimated speeds are not a like-for-like comparison. Estimates use 4,096 context tokens, llama.cpp and one stream.
The NVIDIA DGX Spark (GB10, 128GB) runs 11 more of the tracked models (62 vs 51), thanks to its 128.0 GB of memory. The MacBook Pro / Mac Studio M5 Max (36GB) has more memory bandwidth (460 GB/s). Higher bandwidth can help generation speed, but model, quant, architecture and runtime also affect the estimates.