GPU comparison
MacBook Air/Pro M5 (32GB) vs Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) 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/Pro M5 (32GB) | Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) | |
|---|---|---|
| Memory | 32.0 GB | 96.0 GB |
| Bandwidth | 153 GB/s | 819 GB/s |
| Price (approx) | $1,499 | $5,299 |
| LLMs it runs | 25 of 34 | 30 of 34 |
| Best model it runs | Gemma 4 31B · 6–9 tok/s | Gemma 4 31B · 15–22 tok/s |
The Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) runs 5 more of the tracked models (30 vs 25), thanks to its 96.0 GB of memory. The Mac Studio M3 Ultra (96GB) has more memory bandwidth (819 GB/s), so it generates tokens faster at the same model and quant.