Mac Studio M5 Max, 128GB vs MacBook Air M5 (15-inch), 16GB for local AI
Two machines people weigh against each other for running models at home. Same models, same prices, same arithmetic on both sides.
| Mac Studio M5 Max, 128GB | MacBook Air M5 (15-inch), 16GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $5,099 | $1,499 |
| Memory | 128 GB | 16 GB |
| Usable by the GPU | 96 GB | 10.5 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 614 GB/s | 153 GB/s |
| Power under load | 145 W | 65 W |
| Models that fit | 33 | 10 |
| Best model it runs | Qwen3.8 27B | Gemma 4 12B |
| Speed on that model | 25 tok/s | 14 tok/s |
| Pay-back | Pays back in 64 years | Pays back in 118 years |
Run the numbers on the Mac Studio M5 Max, 128GB · or the MacBook Air M5 (15-inch), 16GB
Both columns use the same default usage: 500k tokens a day at 15:1 input to output, 32k context, and each machine's strongest model that fits.