Comparison
Mac mini M4 24GB vs Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB for local LLMs
Mac mini M4 24GB (18GB usable, 120 GB/s) vs Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB (72GB usable, 819 GB/s) for local LLMs: capacity decides which models load at all, memory bandwidth decides the speed tier. Verdicts below are computed per model at each machine's best clean quant.
| Spec | Mac mini M4 24GB | Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Apple prebuilt | Apple prebuilt |
| Memory for models | 18 GB GPU-usable unified | 72 GB GPU-usable unified |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 819 GB/s |
| Price | $999 base price | $5,299 base price |
| Backends | Metal | Metal |
Specs as of 2026-07-11 — sources on each product page.
What each can run, head to head
The 12 most-downloaded models we track, each graded at that machine's best clean-fit quant (llama.cpp, 8K context). Click a verdict for the full breakdown.
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Verdicts computed from published specs and measured GGUF sizes — how the math works.