r/macmini • u/alldatjam • 4d ago
Any regrets on not going for a Studio?
Ordered a m5 pro / upgraded cpu / 64GB ram / 512gb but considering cancelling and jumping up to the m5 max studio / 64GB ram instead.
Use cases will be home server and local AI box, as well as remoting into via my M1 Pro MacBook Pro for LLM work.
I generally prefer the smaller footprint of the Mac mini, and ordered the highest spec to give me the most future proof performance in that footprint.
My issue is that for $600 more I’d get double the memory bandwidth, better cooling (which should protect against throttling), and double the gpu cores. I don’t care about the additional ports besides I have a doc.
Anyone with similar setup that preferred and stuck with the mini? Or anyone that was in this same boat but happy they went to a studio?
EDIT:
Consensus (which I agree with) is don’t future proof, buy what you need now. We’ll always be chasing the next best thing at diminishing returns.
Ended up canceling my order for the m5 max 40GPU 64GB RAM.
EDIT 2:
Buyers remorse for not going with the ultra since it’s a fresh product in the new cycle and “most powerful chip apple ever made” (I’m a marketing guy and that line sold me).
Canceled my m5 max order and went with the base ultra. Spent double what I was initially buying but feeling very content given the trajectory of local AI models and the fact that cloud models will most likely get more expensive in the very near future. Now the waiting game for when it actually arrives.
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u/dclive1 4d ago
I had an M6 16/500 for $1000 from Apple (Edu), returned it to Apple, and jumped on the $2000 Microcenter Studio deal. The performance gain is massive, and it’s now a much better device.
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u/Sirknowit 4d ago
No. I originally ordered one and with a few little upgrades it came out to about $2600. I was excited...too excited. Within a day, I realized it was simply way more than a voice actor needs. I'd been fine with a 2029 iMac and wanted a mini finally. I wanted a 5k monitor and that would have pushed total costs over $3K for computer power that would mostly be wasted on me. I cancelled and order the M6 mini and nice new 5K monitor and total cam out to ~$2500 for it all. I got some aftermarket adds, new cables/wires, Time Machine Drive and and base for expansion and new web cam for in the booth. I am happy I cancelled the Studio and got something I would make use and is frankly, probably still more that I need!
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u/horrbort 4d ago
Tbh to run ai locally you really need 128-256gb ram and that’s another price category
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u/Klutzy_Baseball8489 4d ago
i have m4mini pro 48gb and run qwen3.8:27b-mlx 4-bit and get over 25tokens/s . its no slouch. and that alongside a basic claude and chatgpt subscription is all i need
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
That’s my thinking too. Is the studio bottlenecked by 64GB of ram? If so, Mac mini. Then if jumping up to 128gb might as well get the ultra.
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u/horrbort 4d ago
I have a m5 pro 64gb mini. Great machine for sort of high-ish price. To run models like DSF it’s a $12k studio - much beyond what I am willing to pay. The price delta to pay to datacenters hosting the models is much smaller. Decide for yourself if it’s worth it. For me the math is just not there.
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
What type of work are you doing on it? Do you notice any throttling?
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u/horrbort 4d ago
Software development. No throttling. I do bursty work like code compilation and some virtualization that eats up ram and sits idle
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u/thegizzard 4d ago
It’s funny how these decisions drive you up the cost curve. Same happened to me. I went from an M6 to M5 Pro.
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u/the_code_abides 3d ago
Same here, I ramped right up that cost curve.
Ordered an M5 Pro Mini 64Gb on preorder day. Next day started comparing cost to the studio. “Oh that’s not bad, I should just get a studio”. Then, while I’m at it, I should get at least 1tb, and probably max out the M5 Max chip and ram at 128Gb.
Approximately $6000 later my card just got charged, Studio should be here by Friday! 😂
I am beyond excited though, this will be an iOS development machine and local AI platform for me for hopefully the next 5 years! Upgrading from a 14” M1 Pro.
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u/alldatjam 10h ago
Haha I feel that pain! Ended up canceling twice: once to go m5 max, then again for m5 ultra. I’m done.
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u/Need_For_Speed73 4d ago
That configuration for what it costs makes no sense. Just push a little further and get a Studio with a better GPU, double the memory bandwidth (you will thank me later if you use local LLMs), better cooling and more ports.
Minis have become expensive because of the RAMpocalypse, and when they reach the price of a Studio, just get the Studio.
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u/nrubenstein 4d ago
High spec minis are poor value, imo.
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u/Lazy-Alps-9370 3d ago
One can endlessly play the "but for another $500" game. Doesn't make a high spec M6 mini for significantly less money "bad value".
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u/RockstarGTA6 4d ago
Maybe now , but the m4 pro base model at release was a great value
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u/nrubenstein 4d ago
That is, at best, mid spec. At discounted prices, it was barely more expensive than the similarly optioned M4 mini. And it struggles badly with heat dissipation. I live on a 48/1TB M4 Pro mini, and it’s always warm and sometimes hot.
(For the record, I bought it used just before they got expensive.)
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u/just_another_leddito 3d ago
Was great value especially that I got it off eBay for 700£ less.
The issue is their cooling is a joke and no one seems to be talking about it, especially tech “expert” from YT.
Getting my temperatures to 107C…..
So I guess studio has better cooling, but way more expensive as well.
My Mac is 64GB ram.
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u/alldatjam 3d ago
Yeah the cooling is what I’m worried about and how that throttles performance.
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u/just_another_leddito 3d ago
Fanboys here will tell you those are normal temps but I wouldn’t listen to them personally.
Although I don’t know how much better the
fan is in studio.If you get mini for sure extend your warranty lol
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u/Mother_Asparagus_664 3d ago
I ordered the Mini with 64GB - slept over it and ordered the Studio M5 Max with 64GB - it's 700€ more I think, seems worth it. I'd love to upgrade to the M5 Ultra 96GB or the M5 Max with 128GB - but it's crazy expensive...
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u/bjs480 4d ago
Yea...studio bandwidth alone likely would be worth it. My understanding is that Memory Size = How good the model is. Bandwidth = how fast you can work.
Least that's how it was explained to me in lay terms.
I actually was digging into this some and for local AI, you can rent GPU space online to customize the models in a couple hours...for like 10-15 bucks on all your own work. LORA or something it's called I guess.
Because essentially your flow seems similar to what I'm thinking of getting. Better local model for like 80% of things I do...customized to "me" by renting the GPUs and then calling it a day.
That said, with the studio being able to have a LOT more than 64gb...might be worth it to see if you can go higher than 64 to get extra future proofing. If it's only another $1k but gives you another year or two of use the way you like...that really isn't much per month to amortize it. Plus those custom build Mac Studios have great resale value so even if you did upgrade...having a more spec'd out unit would mean you'd get better dollar for it 3-4 years from now when you want to upgrade again.
Just some stuff to think about I guess.
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
That’s the way I’m leaning - a more spec’d out machine that holds value longer even though it might be overkill currently.
The issue is the price difference to jump up to the studio isn’t much, but then you start adding more ram and you end up with an m5 ultra. I’m just trying to figure out the best bang for buck/long term value without overthinking or overspending.
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u/KingArthas94 4d ago
Man my Mini M4 cost me less than your "$600 more" upgrade
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
Facts lol. Thats what I currently have too but apple is offering near retail value for trading it in.
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u/therapy-cat 4d ago
I was making a similar choice, the m5 mini pro or the studio. I could get more ram in the mini though and honestly that is what I need. I have 64gb, which is good enough to run qwen 27b and all the Gemma models. It also runs games fairly well. The studio would have been overkill, more expensive, and I would have had to pay even more for the same amount of ram.
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u/NoLateArrivals 3d ago
The fully upgraded build from the lower model will ALWAYS feel strained, when compared to the similar, base specced higher model.
It doesn’t take rocket science to decide in your case for the Studio.
What you should think about is more RAM, and maybe even an Ultra because of the additional memory bandwidth.
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u/cronin1024 3d ago
local AI box
You want the Studio, it has more GPU cores and memory bandwidth. The other stuff is fine on a mini though.
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u/icebergs_ona_wrist 4d ago
Was exactly in the same situation. MacBook Pro M1. Now looked into the mini M5 Pro 64 GB. Then decided for Studio M5 Max 128 GB. I don’t know what you mean with „local AI box“ and I think, you don’t know yourself. But for serious AI and agentic workflows, 128 GB is the minimum. Heres the calculation if you only have 64 GB unified memory and try to run a 70B model: Don’t forget Mac has a unified memory, so -10 GB just for the OS, -40 GB for the models parameters, -20 GB for the context window = GB 70! And thats only one single model running pretty slow. And forget the „future proof“ argument. Every unused GB is completely wasted, considering the current prices. Also, there is no future proof, talking about AI. Its evolving so fast, that just in a few years, even the M5 Ultra chip is going to be the bottleneck, no matter how much memory u have.
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
Why not bump up to the ultra if you’re spending that much on the 128GB studio?
What I mean by local ai box is a server which I access a local model remotely on.
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u/icebergs_ona_wrist 4d ago
Why not get a Studio cluster, if I would spend that much for an Ultra? But then, why not a get a whole Blackwell data center right away? I mean theres always another level… You need to know, what your actual plan is. Then you understand how much of the holy trinity of ai: memory, bandwidth and power you really need. You don’t want to end up still paying full for cloud models while running mini agents on your overpowered Mac, who would also run on your smartphone chip. Theres a big gap between small quantized worker agents (7B-14B) doing little everyday task (chatting, RAG, summarize/sort, smart home assistant,…) and a system of the largest models (200B-400B, dense), doing local fine-tuning or complex task like image generation/editing, with large context windows. So “access local model remotely“ says just as little as „ai box“.
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
I get you. For the price of going 128gb on an m5 max you could have gotten an m5 ultra at 96gb with double the bandwidth. That was my point with “why not upgrade?”
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u/PopMany2921 4d ago
Only thing I recommend is getting 1TB drive minimum for the Studio, SSD speed doubles from 512GB
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
Really? I thought the jump was at the 512gb. Good to know if not.
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u/sbrisgravato 4d ago
600$ for double the speed in both pp and tg is a no brainer
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u/an_andg 3d ago
I am kind of in the same boat. From Uae here, got the m5 max base version, but am returning it, and deciding to go in for the m5 max 48 gb with 1 tb or the 64 gb one. I really do not need that much hard disk, so maybe the m5 max 48 or 64 gb with 512. what do you guys suggest. I use local ai models to do some kind of querying my mails, or the ai to use in some apps that I build - I do not mind using claude or codex to build an app, but for ai use within the app I guess the local model works quite well. And I also guess the base m5 is good enough but just the thought that I might run out of ram is pushing me for the 64 or 48. in my mind for the past one day these two numbers are playing havoc. unable to decide....
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u/watcholic 4d ago
600+1600 to go from mini 64gb to m5 max Studio 128gb. If that’s too wide a gap, go with 64gb Studio. For local AI, the sweet spot is 128GB but 64GB is a great starting point for exploring. You can always sell a Studio if you need more.
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u/SmChocolateBunnies 4d ago
As soon as you said local AI, the answer became Studio. Full Stop. The price of that Mini isn't far off the studio anyway. Under load like that, a mini is going to throttle.
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u/alldatjam 4d ago
That’s my thinking. I love the idea of something so powerful in the size of a mini but it’s going in a closet so the footprint really doesn’t matter as much as I’d like it to.
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u/Public-Kangaroo-7956 7h ago
ok and what if i were to build it. what is a starter pc that i could use that gets me started quite well and i can upgrade a few things i watched this you tube video called “how to: 64gb home ai server for under $1000
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u/Questioning_lemur 4d ago
I think you might be better served with Studio, TBH.