readygpu

Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB vs Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB

For running models locally, priced in the US. At 64k context the first runs 65 models fully in memory, the second 71.

In short

The Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB has more memory for models: 96 GB against 64 GB. At 64k context the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB runs 71 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB 65; only the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB holds gpt-oss 120B. On the models both run fully in memory, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB is about 3.0× as fast as the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB (estimated, median across models). In the US the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB costs $2,500 at eBay and the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB $4,968 at eBay: the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB is $2,468 cheaper.

Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.

Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB

$2,500

eBay

Add to build
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB

$4,968

eBay

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac mini M4 Pro 64GBMac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB
ChipApple M4 Pro (20-core GPU)Apple M3 Ultra (80-core GPU)
Memory bus256-bit1024-bit
Memory bandwidth273 GB/s819 GB/s
FP16 compute8.08 TFLOPS28 TFLOPS
SoftwareMetalMetal
Unified memory64 GB96 GB
GPU can use by default48 GB72 GB
GPU can use, tuned56 GB88 GB
Operating systemmacosmacos
ProcessorM4 Pro 14-coreM3 Ultra 32-core
Storage1000 GB1000 GB

What each runs

Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.

ModelMac mini M4 Pro 64GBMac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB
Qwen 3.8 27B5tok/sQ8_016tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B21tok/sUD-Q2_K_XL51tok/sQ3_K_M
Qwen 3.6 27B5tok/sQ8_016tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 Coder Next26tok/sQ4_K_M66tok/sQ6_K
Gemma 4 31B5tok/sQ8_014tok/sQ8_0
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12Bwon't run48tok/sUD-Q3_K_M
gpt-oss 120Bwon't run58tok/sMXFP4
Mistral Small 4 119B27tok/sUD-Q2_K_XL54tok/sUD-Q4_K_M
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B24tok/sQ8_071tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 27B5tok/sQ8_016tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 26B-A4B19tok/sQ8_056tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.5 Airwon't run16tok/sQ3_K_M
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B31tok/sQ4_K_M78tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B24tok/sQ8_071tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.7 Flash12tok/sQ8_036tok/sQ8_0
Devstral Small 2 24B5tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B28tok/sUD-Q6_K_XL85tok/sUD-Q6_K_XL
Kimi Linear 48B-A3B35tok/sQ6_K85tok/sQ8_0
gpt-oss 20B26tok/sMXFP479tok/sMXFP4
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B11tok/sQ8_033tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 32B4tok/sQ6_K10tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 12B13tok/sQ8_038tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B15tok/sQ8_045tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 3 27B5tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
Mistral Small 3.2 24B5tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B4tok/sQ6_K10tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.3 70Bwon't run8tok/sQ5_K_M
Ministral 3 14B7tok/sQ8_021tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 14B7tok/sQ8_020tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B10tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8B10tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14B6tok/sQ8_018tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 4B27tok/sQ8_080tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B10tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8B9tok/sQ8_027tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B18tok/sQ8_053tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B25tok/sQ8_075tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8B12tok/sQ6_K35tok/sQ6_K
Qwen2.5 0.5B133tok/sQ8_0398tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 0.8B109tok/sQ8_0325tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 2B79tok/sQ5_K_M236tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B47tok/sQ8_0141tok/sQ8_0
MiniCPM5 2B32tok/sQ8_097tok/sQ8_0
Spark X2.5 4B32tok/smlx-4bit97tok/smlx-4bit
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking29tok/sQ8_088tok/sQ8_0
FrogNano 4B 260926tok/sQ8_078tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 2.6B26tok/sQ8_077tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 VL 3B26tok/sQ8_077tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B Thinking 250621tok/sQ8_062tok/sQ8_0
Kimi VL A3B20tok/smlx-8bit60tok/smlx-8bit
granite vision 4.1 4b20tok/sQ8_059tok/sQ8_0
granite 4.2 3b19tok/sQ8_058tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 3B Instruct 251217tok/sQ8_050tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4 9B 041416tok/smlx-5bit49tok/smlx-5bit
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B15tok/sQ8_045tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 24B A2B14tok/sQ8_043tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.6V Flash14tok/sQ8_042tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.1V 9B Thinking12tok/smlx-8bit37tok/smlx-8bit
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8B10tok/sQ8_031tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 251210tok/sQ8_029tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 14B Reasoning 25127tok/sQ8_021tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.8 27B OBLITERATED7tok/smlx-4bit21tok/smlx-4bit
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14B6tok/sQ8_019tok/sQ8_0
Muse Glimmer 30B5tok/sQ8_016tok/sQ8_0
Devstral Small 25075tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
Magistral Small 25065tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
Magistral Small 25075tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
Magistral Small 25095tok/sQ8_015tok/sQ8_0
granite 4.2 30b4tok/sQ8_011tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70Bwon't run8tok/sQ5_K_M
GLM 4.5Vwon't run15tok/sQ4_K_M
DeepSeek V4 Flashwon't runwon't run
GLM 5.3 Flashwon't runwon't run
Qwen 3.8 Flash Nextwon't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.7won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 0528won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Zerowon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3 0324won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1 Terminuswon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.2won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Expwon't runwon't run
Devstral 2 123B Instruct 2512won't runwon't run
GLM 4.5won't runwon't run
GLM 4.6won't runwon't run
GLM 4.6Vwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.7won't runwon't run
GLM 5won't runwon't run
GLM 5.1won't runwon't run
GLM 5.2won't runwon't run
GLM 5.3won't runwon't run
Kimi Dev 72Bwon't runwon't run
Kimi K2won't runwon't run
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905won't runwon't run
Kimi K2 Thinkingwon't runwon't run
Kimi K2.5won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.1won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.5won't runwon't run
MiniMax M3won't runwon't run
Mistral Medium 3.5 128Bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB or the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB?
Choose the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB to run bigger models. Choose the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB for speed. Choose the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB or the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB?
At 64k context the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB runs 71 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB 65; only the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB holds gpt-oss 120B.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB or the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB?
On the models both run fully in memory, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB is about 3.0× as fast as the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB and the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB?
In the US the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB costs $2,500 at eBay and the Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB $4,968 at eBay: the Mac mini M4 Pro 64GB is $2,468 cheaper.

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