GPU comparison
MacBook Air/Pro M5 (16GB) vs MacBook Pro M5 Pro (24GB) 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/Pro M5 (16GB) | MacBook Pro M5 Pro (24GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 16.0 GB | 24.0 GB |
| Bandwidth | 153 GB/s | 307 GB/s |
| Price (approx) | $1,099 | $2,199 |
| LLMs it runs | 27 of 64 | 45 of 64 |
| Best model it runs | Devstral Small 2 24B · 10–15 tok/s | Qwen3.8 27B · 14–21 tok/s |
The MacBook Pro M5 Pro (24GB) runs 18 more of the tracked models (45 vs 27), thanks to its 24.0 GB of memory. The MacBook Pro M5 Pro (24GB) has more memory bandwidth (307 GB/s), so it generates tokens faster at the same model and quant.