Mac mini M6, 32GB vs MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB for local AI
The Mac mini M6, 32GB holds 19 of the 39 open models here, and the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB holds 10. They cost the same. On Gemma 4 12B, the strongest model both hold, the Mac mini M6, 32GB is about 1.1× faster: 16 tok/s against 14, both estimated from memory bandwidth. The Mac mini M6, 32GB pays for itself sooner, in 17 years against 102 years at 500k tokens a day, though that is each machine on its own strongest model rather than on the same one.
| Mac mini M6, 32GB | MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,299 | $1,299 |
| Memory | 32 GB | 16 GB |
| Usable by the GPU | 21 GB | 10.5 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 170 GB/s | 153 GB/s |
| Power under load | 65 Wstand-in | 65 Wstand-in |
| Models that fit | 19 | 10 |
| Best model it runs | Qwen3.8 27B | Gemma 4 12B |
| Speed on that model | 6.9 tok/s estimatedQwen3.8 27B | 14 tok/s estimatedGemma 4 12B |
| Pay-back on that model | Pays back in 17 years | Pays back in 102 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 two matching says nothing about either machine. 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 M6, 32GB · or the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB
The same money, two different machines
These two cost the same: $1,299 for the Mac mini M6, 32GB and $1,299 for the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB. Both are Apple machines, but a Mac mini and a MacBook Air 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.
Side by side on Gemma 4 12B
The table above gives each machine the strongest model it can hold, and those are not the same model, so the two speeds in it are not a race. Gemma 4 12B is the strongest model both machines hold, so this is the pair running the same work.
| Mac mini M6, 32GB | MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | 16 tok/s estimated | 14 tok/s estimated |
| Pay-back | Pays back in 100 years | Pays back in 102 years |
Run Gemma 4 12B on the Mac mini M6, 32GB · or on the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB
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 the same model, at the five levels of use the calculator names. The Mac mini M6, 32GB 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 M6, 32GB | MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB |
|---|---|---|
| 50ka few chats a day | 1,000 years | 1,020 years |
| 200klight assistant use | 250 years | 255 years |
| 1Ma moderate coding-assistant day | 50 years | 51 years |
| 4Mheavy coding with an agent | 13 years | 13 years |
| 20Magents running most of the day | 2.5 years | 2.6 yearsits ceiling |
On Gemma 4 12B the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB generates at most 19.8M tokens a day, so its figure at 20M tokens a day is for the most it can do, not for the whole of what was asked.
Run the Mac mini M6, 32GB at 20M tokens a day · or the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB
What the extra memory buys
The Mac mini M6, 32GB holds 9 models the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB 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 M6, 32GB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8 27BSonnet-class | 16 GB | 19 GB | 6.9 tok/s estimated |
| Qwen3.6 27BHaiku-class | 17 GB | 19 GB | 6.7 tok/s estimated |
| Muse Glimmer 30BHaiku-class | 17 GB | 18 GB | 7.2 tok/s estimated |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4BHaiku-class | 17 GB | 18 GB | 15 tok/s estimated |
| GLM-4.7-FlashHaiku-class | 18 GB | 20 GB | 14 tok/s estimated |
| Granite 4.2 8BBelow every hosted tier | 5.3 GB | 11 GB | 12 tok/s estimated |
3 more, on the Mac mini M6, 32GB page.
The extra memory buys context as well. Of the 10 models both machines hold at 32k, 7 run to a longer window on the Mac mini M6, 32GB: 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. Gemma 4 12B reaches 256k there against 128k on the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB, each the longest window the calculator offers that the machine still holds it at.
The Mac mini M6, 32GB is also head to head with another computer: Framework Desktop, 32GB. With a graphics card: Radeon AI PRO R9700, 32GB. With the same machine at another memory size: 16GB · 24GB. With the machine it replaced: Mac mini M4, 32GB.
The MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB is also head to head with another computer: MacBook Air M5 (15-inch), 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 M6, 32GB runs · everything the MacBook Air M5 (13-inch), 16GB runs · every other match-up · the quickest pay-back at each level of use · every model against the frontier