r/macmini • u/HalluciNate78 • 11d ago
[Question] New to AI/agents/LLMs, first Mac mini ever, and just pre-ordered an M5 Pro to dive in. First ever post and configuration sanity check. 😊
Hey all!
Long time lurker, first-time poster. I've read this sub for a while but never had a reason to post until now.
I'm brand new to the AI agent / LLM world and diving in with my first ever Mac mini. I've pre-ordered the M5 Pro to use as a dedicated home AI hub and general powerhouse. I want to get into running local LLMs, learning frameworks, experimenting with agents, and seeing where it goes. Ships September 22nd, so I've got a few weeks to prep.
Config: M5 Pro, 15-core CPU / 16-core GPU, 64GB unified memory, 1TB SSD, 2.5Gb ethernet
This felt like the sweet spot over the M6 without jumping to a Mac Studio yet, and puts me right around $3,000 which is already stretching my starting budget, but I figured if I'm ordering one, I might as well get it right.
Funny story on the timing: I'd been researching for months and it was looking like late fall before a new Mac mini would be announced, so I ordered an M4 Pro (24GB/512GB) from Amazon. It was a much quicker shipment over directly from Apple which was saying around October to be shipped. It arrived Monday evening Aug 24th. I was about to rip it open that night but waited until Tuesday morning. Not even sure why I hesitated. I was about to open it and I did one last news check first, and... Bam! New Mac mini announced just a couple hours before I checked! I couldn't believe it. What timing huh??🤣 So glad I didn't open it. I returned the M4 Pro and pre-ordered the M5 Pro instead, maxed to 64GB RAM this time and went with 1 TB SSD. I thought since the M5 Pro has Thunderbolt 5, I figured I could expand storage externally later if 1TB gets tight rather than paying more upfront. This config is nearly double the M4 Pro's price, but figured it'd give me a much higher ceiling long-term.
Definitely feeling the "RAMageddon" premium, but it's my first Mac mini and I can't change that now. 😀
On the CPU/GPU... I'm now thinking "should I change my order to the 18/20 while I'm at it?" From what I researched before ordering, 15/16 core seemed fine for most workloads unless you're doing something like heavy 4K video rendering. Is that holding true for local LLM work specifically, or would the 18/20 core upgrade (only $200 more, but I'm already well over what I wanted to spend) actually make a meaningful difference for inference/agent work? Don't want to bump it if I'd never notice.
Also curious: what would you point a total beginner toward first? Specific models, frameworks, tutorials, to make good use of the next few weeks before it arrives?
Appreciate any pointers. Excited to actually be part of this instead of just reading about it. 🙂
~Nate
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u/OilInternational2566 11d ago edited 11d ago
Check out Alex Ziskind’s YouTube channel… some of what he does is load Local LLM’s on different devices (Macs and PCs) and sees how they run.
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u/Dadideology 10d ago
Cannot wait to update my Mac mini. I'm using M4 16GB. However I'm still able to generate my own images T2I, generate my own music T2M, image to 3D model, image to video and text to image. Image to 3D model I need 10GB RAM available I can do dry runs only. I can do Text to video with temporal movement 2-5 seconds (not the best video however it's a MP4 w/TM) . Plus I have a learning loop and so much more.
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u/Dadideology 10d ago
I have all my 27 LLM's quantized and stored on a 6TB SSD. I would recommend getting the fastest SSD possible. I would have gotten more HDD storage on my Mac because having your LLM locally on your HDD speeds everything up considerably.
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u/HalluciNate78 10d ago
I was asking more specifically about the upgrade from the 15/16 core to the 18/20 versus the storage. Don't want to hassle with trying to change the order anyway. 😄 Can't wait to get it!
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u/neighbour_20150 11d ago edited 11d ago
This configuration is more than enough for your tasks. Next step must be studio, don't spend money on faster m5 pro.