GPU comparison
MacBook Air M4 (24GB) vs MacBook Pro M5 Pro (64GB) for local LLMs
How the two stack up for running open-source LLMs locally — memory, bandwidth, price, and how many of the 64 tracked models each one can run.
| MacBook Air M4 (24GB) | MacBook Pro M5 Pro (64GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 24.0 GB | 64.0 GB |
| Bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 307 GB/s |
| Price (approx) | $1,399 | $3,399 |
| LLMs it runs | 45 of 64 | 52 of 64 |
| Best model it runs | Qwen3.8 27B · 7–10 tok/s | Qwen3.8 27B · 14–21 tok/s |
The MacBook Pro M5 Pro (64GB) runs 7 more of the tracked models (52 vs 45), thanks to its 64.0 GB of memory. The MacBook Pro M5 Pro (64GB) has more memory bandwidth (307 GB/s), so it generates tokens faster at the same model and quant.