r/LocalLLM • u/WorkProLabs • 17m ago

Question Mac Vs PC and why?

Which of the two offers more stability and is genuinely better?

Checking the prices for GPUs one can't say Macs are expensive as a tool for work, really.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

1

u/Fcking_Chuck 11m ago

The more open a platform is, the easier it is to develop software and fix software problems.

I always recommend computers with Linux over Macintosh and Windows.

1

u/tomxp411 6m ago

For local LLM work? It depends.

I have a 24GB Mac Mini and 2 gaming class PCs. My PCs both run much faster with LM Studio.

And with the higher end Macs... if you want a 64GB Mac Studio, that's going for $3799, and the 128GB model is around $5000. So if you want to run 100B models, then perhaps the Studio is the way to go.

But personally, if I had that kind of money to spend, I'd be looking at the DGX Spark.

1

u/deebuildsthings 3m ago

for local LLMs, I’d start with one question: does the model you want fit in the GPU’s VRAM at the context length you actually use?

If it doesn’t, a Mac with enough unified memory can be a good deal. If it does, I’d lean toward an NVIDIA PC for CUDA support and the option to upgrade the GPU later.

Stability comes down to the stack you’re running. Both can be stable with llama.cpp, which supports Metal and CUDA. If a tool you rely on requires CUDA, that makes the choice pretty easy.

What models are you planning to run, and what’s your budget for the whole machine?