GPU comparison
MacBook Air M4 (24GB) vs MacBook Pro M5 Max (36GB) for local LLMs
How the two stack up for running open-source LLMs locally — memory, bandwidth, price, and how many of the 34 tracked models each one can run.
| MacBook Air M4 (24GB) | MacBook Pro M5 Max (36GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 24.0 GB | 36.0 GB |
| Bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 460 GB/s |
| Price (approx) | $1,399 | $3,599 |
| LLMs it runs | 21 of 34 | 25 of 34 |
| Best model it runs | Gemma 4 31B · 5–7 tok/s | Gemma 4 31B · 15–22 tok/s |
The MacBook Pro M5 Max (36GB) runs 4 more of the tracked models (25 vs 21), thanks to its 36.0 GB of memory. The MacBook Pro M5 Max (36GB) has more memory bandwidth (460 GB/s), so it generates tokens faster at the same model and quant.