Local AI Deals

Mac mini, M6, 32GB vs Mac mini, M5 Pro, 48GB

Both hold Qwen3-32B at Q4_K_M. Mac mini, M5 Pro, 48GB decodes an est. 10.3 tok/s against 5.7, and costs $1,000 more — $216.95.67658618753194 per extra token per second. Worth it if you read the output as it arrives; not if you queue jobs.

For Qwen3-32B at Q4_K_MMac mini 32GBMac mini 48GB
Fit
Fits
Fits
Headroom
6GB
22GB
Est. speed
5.7 tok/s
10.3 tok/s
Cheapest today
$1,499 at Apple
$2,499 at Apple
Per GB of memory
$47
$52
Memory
32GB unified memory
48GB unified memory
Usable for a model
29GB
44GB
Memory bandwidth
170GB/s
307GB/s
Storage
512GB
512GB
Lowest recorded
$1,499 in 2d
$2,499 in 2d

Fit, headroom and speed are computed from each vendor’s published bandwidth and the model’s own size at 8K context. Prices are the cheapest listing we could read on each seller’s page. The arithmetic is here.

Where they actually differ

Every model we track at Q4_K_M. The rows where the two boxes agree are dimmed, because they are not what you are choosing between.