Buying a Mac Studio

Flame Hardware Questions
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1

Hi all,

I’m looking to buy a Mac Studio for Flame. We need the flexibility to also use it for other software, which is why I don’t want another Linux machine right now.

However, apple has stopped offering more than 96GB unified memory. I’m keeping an eye out on refurbished offers with more, but no luck so far.

Would love to hear some opinions on the performance on one of these. Would I regret compromising to 96GB? For reference I’m working on a pretty old Linux machine with an A5000/24GB. I’m unsure how to compare the unified memory to this.

And since on the topic, is the price difference of the M3 Ultra worth it over the M4 Max?

Appreciate your thoughts! Cheers

2

I would wait for the hopefully coming-soon M5 model or buy used if you can.

3

Don’t you think if it comes this year it’ll be more likely to be q4 at the earliest?

4

Yeah, I’m not a patient guy :slight_smile:

The issue with the RAM is the supply chain with AI demand… So I wouldn’t be surprised those M5 models will be affected as well.

5

I’m hoping for sooner rather than later, but who knows. The last ones kinda came out of nowhere.

I did some pretty extensive benchmarking on the m3 ultra vs m4. The extra gpu cores on the ultra help a LOT, but on single-threaded stuff (looking at you, batch paint), the higher clock speed of the m4 pulls ahead. If you look through my old posts you will find the results.

6

Mon, Jun 8 - Fri, Jun 12, 2026 is WWDC - I think there will a big focus on Siri 2.0 and the related Apple hardware for generative AI. Of course noting is sure but we expect Mac Studios with M5 Max at least will come out to get the ball rolling.

7

I think the M5 will be a big jump from M3. Also there’s some possibility that more flexible configs will be available next month.