Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB vs MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB for local AI
The Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB holds 34 of the 50 current models here, and the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB holds 23. The Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB costs $100 less. On Qwen3.8 27B, the strongest model both hold, the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB is about 1.9× faster: 12 tok/s against 6.2, both estimated from memory bandwidth. The Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB pays for itself sooner, in 155 years against 157 years at 500k tokens a day.
| Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB | MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2,299 | $2,399 |
| Memory | 48 GB | 32 GB |
| Usable by the GPU | 36 GB | 21 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 307 GB/s | 153 GB/s |
| Power under load | 140 Wstand-in | 65 Wstand-in |
| Models that fit | 34 | 23 |
| Best model it runs | Qwen3.8 27B | Qwen3.8 27B |
| Speed on that model | 12 tok/s estimated | 6.2 tok/s estimated |
| Pay-back on that model | Pays back in 155 years | Pays back in 157 years |
Neither power figure above is measured on the machine beside it. Both are stand-ins borrowed from the nearest hardware the data does have, so the gap between them is not a difference between these two machines. Each machine's page names the figure it borrows and why. Every pay-back figure on this page prices its electricity from these numbers.
Run the numbers on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB · or the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB
Jump to: The same money, two different machines · How much use it takes to pay back · What the extra memory buys · The assumptions behind both columns
The same money, two different machines
These two cost within $100 of each other: $2,299 for the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB and $2,399 for the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB. Both are Apple machines, but a Mac mini and a MacBook Pro are two different machines rather than two sizes of one. Every other head-to-head on this site holds a piece of the hardware equal and asks what the price gap buys. This one holds the price, so the row that usually carries the answer is the row the two machines agree on, and everything under it is what the same money buys twice.
How much use it takes to pay back
Everything above is at 500k tokens a day. Pay-back moves with how much you actually run, so here are both machines on Qwen3.8 27B, the strongest model both hold, at the five levels of use the calculator names. The Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB pays back sooner at every level of use, so this is not a choice that turns on how hard you work it.
| A day's use | Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB | MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB |
|---|---|---|
| 50ka few chats a day | 1,549 years | 1,572 years |
| 200klight assistant use | 387 years | 393 years |
| 1Ma moderate coding-assistant day | 77 years | 79 years |
| 4Mheavy coding with an agent | 19 years | 20 years |
| 20Magents running most of the day | 4.5 yearsits ceiling | 9.2 yearsits ceiling |
On Qwen3.8 27B neither machine can generate 20M tokens a day: the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB manages at most 17.1M and the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB at most 8.53M. Both figures on that row are for the most each can do.
Run the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB at 20M tokens a day · or the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB
What the extra memory buys
The Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB holds 11 models the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB cannot at 32k of context. The strongest of them are what the difference in memory actually buys.
| Model | Weights | Needs at 32k | On the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nemotron 3.5 Bolt 74B-A9BHaiku-class | 22 GB | 22 GB | 32 tok/s estimated |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3BHaiku-class | 22 GB | 23 GB | 37 tok/s estimated |
| Gemma 4 31B itHaiku-class | 20 GB | 23 GB | 10 tok/s estimated |
| Granite 4.2 30BHaiku-class | 18 GB | 26 GB | 8.8 tok/s estimated |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3BBelow every hosted tier | 25 GB | 26 GB | 35 tok/s estimated |
| Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3BBelow every hosted tier | 19 GB | 22 GB | 18 tok/s estimated |
5 more, on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB page.
The extra memory buys context as well. Of the 23 current models both machines hold at 32k, 8 run to a longer window on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB: the weights are a fixed size and the KV cache is not, so what the weights leave spare is what a longer context grows into. Qwen3.6 27B reaches 256k there against 32k on the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB, each the longest window the calculator offers that the machine still holds it at.
The Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB is also head to head with another computer: GMKtec EVO-X2, 64GB. With the same machine at another memory size: 24GB · 64GB. With the machine it replaced: Mac mini M4 Pro, 48GB.
The MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB is also head to head with another computer: Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB. With the same machine at another memory size: 16GB.
The assumptions behind both columns
Both columns use the same usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k of context, $0.17 per kWh, and today's API prices held flat. Speeds marked estimated are worked out from memory bandwidth rather than measured, and pay-back scales with them. Change any of it in the calculator.
More head to head: everything the Mac mini M5 Pro, 48GB runs · everything the MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB runs · every other match-up · the quickest pay-back at each level of use · every model against the frontier