Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB vs Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB for local AI
Both hold 27 of the 39 open models here. The Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB costs $200 less. On Qwen3.8 27B, the strongest model both hold, the Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB is about 1.6× faster: 19 tok/s against 12, both estimated from memory bandwidth. The Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB pays for itself sooner, in 32 years against 35 years at 500k tokens a day.
| Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB | Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2,499 | $2,699 |
| Memory | 36 GB | 64 GB |
| Usable by the GPU | 27 GB | 48 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 460 GB/s | 307 GB/s |
| Power under load | 145 Wstand-in | 140 Wstand-in |
| Models that fit | 27 | 27 |
| Best model it runs | Qwen3.8 27B | Qwen3.8 27B |
| Speed on that model | 19 tok/s estimated | 12 tok/s estimated |
| Pay-back on that model | Pays back in 32 years | Pays back in 35 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 Studio M5 Max, 36GB · or the Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB
The same money, two different machines
These two cost within $200 of each other: $2,499 for the Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB and $2,699 for the Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB. Both are Apple machines, but a Mac Studio and a Mac mini 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 Studio M5 Max, 36GB 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 Studio M5 Max, 36GB | Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB |
|---|---|---|
| 50ka few chats a day | 316 years | 350 years |
| 200klight assistant use | 79 years | 87 years |
| 1Ma moderate coding-assistant day | 16 years | 17 years |
| 4Mheavy coding with an agent | 3.9 years | 4.4 years |
| 20Magents running most of the day | 9.5 months | 12 monthsits ceiling |
On Qwen3.8 27B the Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB generates at most 17.1M 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 Studio M5 Max, 36GB at 20M tokens a day · or the Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB
The same models, not to the same length
Every model on this list that fits one machine fits the other at 32k of context, so memory does not change what they run. What it changes is how far you can take the context on 12 of them. The Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB has 48 GB usable against 27 GB, and spare memory is what the KV cache grows into as you keep more tokens.
| Model | Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB | Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB |
|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8 27B16 GB of weights | 128k | 256k |
| Qwen3.6 27B17 GB of weights | 128k | 256k |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B22 GB of weights | 128k | 256k |
| Gemma 4 31B it20 GB of weights | 32k | 128k |
| Granite 4.2 30B18 GB of weights | 32k | 64k |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B25 GB of weights | 128k | 256k |
| Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B19 GB of weights | 64k | 256k |
| Devstral Small 2 24B14 GB of weights | 64k | 128k |
| Ministral 3 14B8.2 GB of weights | 64k | 128k |
| Ministral 3 8B5.2 GB of weights | 128k | 256k |
| Laguna XS 2.120 GB of weights | 128k | 256k |
| Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B22 GB of weights | 128k | 256k |
Each figure is the longest context the calculator offers that the machine still holds that model at, and no model is taken past its own context limit. The other 27 models the calculator counts reach the same length on both machines, at every setting from 4k to 256k.
Run Qwen3.8 27B on the Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB at 128k · or on the Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB at 256k
The Mac Studio M5 Max, 36GB is also head to head with another computer: MacBook Pro M5 (14-inch), 32GB. With the same box and the bigger chip: 48GB. With the machine it replaced: Mac Studio M4 Max, 36GB.
The Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB is also head to head with the same machine at another memory size: 24GB · 48GB. With the machine it replaced: Mac mini M4 Pro, 64GB.
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 Studio M5 Max, 36GB runs · everything the Mac mini M5 Pro, 64GB runs · every other match-up · the quickest pay-back at each level of use · every model against the frontier