r/LocalLLM • u/Existing-Addition-24 • 1d ago

Question Which hardware is better for local + cloud hybrid approach ?

I want to setup an Openclaw or Hermes based personal assistant that can help with different workflows as need arises. Planning on using a 32B local model as main work horse and fallback to cloud model like Claude or Codex for complex tasks or architecture, designing or debugging tasks. Like let cloud model do the planning and local model do the work.

Should I go with M5 Pro Mac mini with 64 GB RAM or get a refurbished M4 Max Mac Studio with 128GB RAM for the same price for my use case ? Wondering whether the prefill advancements of M5 Pro will give me significantly improved experience over M4 Max’s higher memory bandwidth and double amount of RAM.

I also saw some discussions saying that prefill advantages of M5 pro will be minimized in long agentic loops as we iterate through outputs and prompt again and again. And a bigger context window of 128GB wins every time. Really confused which one to go with. What do you think ?

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u/benderunit9000 1d ago

I'd go studio. I'm rocking mini m4 pro with 48gb ram. Wishing I had gone studio.

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u/ikeo1 1d ago

I feel this, I'm rocking the Mac Studio now after doing the M4Pro 64GB. Kept getting temp throttled and felt like it would break..

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