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Should you buy the M5 Mac Studio?
Pick the machine, then answer yes or no. Every number on the decision tree updates for the config you chose. Every path ends in one of four places: buy at launch, wait, avoid, or another route entirely.
Snapshot, not a live feed. Prices, model sizes and speed references were pulled on . Apple changes prices, model makers ship new files monthly, and the 512 GB tier is unpriced until late October. Anything here older than a few weeks is stale; check the linked sources before spending money.
1. The machine
What fits in this much memory (open-weight models, file size on disk, Unsloth GGUF sizes as of )
✓ fits by default · ↑ fits with the cap raised · ✗ does not fit. macOS lets the GPU use about 75% of memory by default. "Raise the cap" means the iogpu.wired_limit_mb sysctl, leaving 16 to 40 GB for the system. Speeds are estimates from memory bandwidth (no M5 Ultra LLM benchmark exists yet); the M5 Max has one measured MLX result.
2. The decision tree
3. The map
your path, current question glowsbuy at launchwaitavoidanother route (CUDA)
A right arrow goes into a side branch. A down arrow returns to the next question on the spine.
4. The gear in the video
The only products in the video you can buy today. The Mac Studio is on Apple's store; these are the box I run and the one I would buy instead of it.
- GMKtec EVO-X2 AI Mini PC, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB LPDDR5X, 2 TB SSD (the box every benchmark on the channel ran on)
- GMKtec EVO-X3 AI Mini PC, Ryzen AI Max+ 395, 128 GB LPDDR5X (the newer tower with an OCuLink port for an external GPU)
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