Hardware advice. M5 Max vs AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395

Reddit r/LocalLLaMA / 4/18/2026

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A Reddit user is seeking advice on upgrading hardware for running local LLMs with a budget of about €6,500, focusing on the MacBook Pro M5 Max (128GB unified memory) versus high-end AMD-based mini-PC/workstation options.
They believe the Mac M5 Max should load the largest text-focused models more efficiently, with lower power consumption and less desk-space/complexity than assembling multi-GPU rigs.
They are considering alternatives like Acemagic and Beelink systems (e.g., Ryzen AI Max+ 395) but worry about increased noise and how well these platforms will scale for future model sizes.
The user asks about future-proofing and comparative performance tradeoffs between Mac-side MLX workflows and AMD-side GGUF approaches, mainly for “boilerplate” coding assistance using models like Qwen Coder Next or Gemma.
They also entertain other options such as purchasing multiple used RTX 3090s for a quad setup, indicating they want guidance on whether multi-GPU is worth it for their text/coding use case.

Hey,

I’m looking to upgrade my hardware for local LLM use. I’m not quite sure yet which solution to go with.

My budget is around €6,500.

I’m considering buying a MacBook Pro M5 Max with 128 GB of unified memory. From what I’ve heard, that seems to be the best solution for loading the largest models (text processing; for images, my 4090 is probably still the better choice?).

Power consumption should be significantly lower than if I were to cobble together some kind of dual-GPU rig, which might be overkill for text processing in the long run (besides I am running out of space on my desk lol)?

I’ve also heard of systems like the Acemagic M1A Pro+ or the Beelink GTR9 Pro AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395. With my budget, I could almost buy two of those lol. But these things are probably even louder, right?

Do you guys have any suggestions? Which option is more future-proof? Which one will give me better performance (MLX on Mac or GGUF with AMD?)

My primary use case would be to have AI handle boilerplate programming (Qwen Coder Next or Gemma4 or whatever other models might pop up in the future).

What other options have I overlooked? Buying four 3090 (used) for a quad setup?

submitted by /u/AncientGrief
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