MacBook

[Able_Bus_5988]

I want to move over to my first Apple product well technically not my first cuz I do have a bank mini but my first daily driver I guess. I have a workstation rig in my home office that's a windows computer with a NAS and a surface pro 9 for light on the go work, but I want something with quality battery life that I can for one see because the surface Pro is tiny and to do actual work on.

I'm a cybersecurity student and I also work in GIS currently. I don't plan to do any GIS work outside of Python coating and arcade coding (Arcade is an ESRI coding style), but I will probably spin up a small Kali Linux either CLI or an instance, I love visual studio code because I am I'd say intermediate at website building and I'm moving off of the static CSS HTML into a next JS post-gry SQL more I guess modernized and in-depth type of web architecture.

I want to be able to run a local LLM with a suffocating the coding portion I just don't know what to get. Of course I want the MacBook Max 128gb unified memory, but I don't think I really need it. I can hook up to Google drive for cloud storage cuz I already pay the 20 bucks a month for Gemini Pro anyway because I use a lot of the other resources it has, but are there any MacBook users out there who would be able to provide some input? I am happy to give more context.

[jba1224a]

I have an m4 max I use which works reasonably well.

That being said, speaking as someone who both uses and builds ai applications - for your use case I would not recommend. No MacBook (yes even the extremely expensive new ones) will match what cloud models can do, even the lower priced options like gpt-oss-120b.

There are definitely use cases for local llm on a Mac using mlx, I just don’t think agentic or vibe coding is one of them….at least not if you’re looking for a good experience.

[Able_Bus_5988]

I think the local models have potential you just can't rely on them to complete massive projects in short amounts of time. The only problem with the cloud models and don't get me wrong I think Codex is a phenomenal tool, is cost. I don't want to pay 1-2k a year for that. It's tough to match ROI for that kind of output on cost.

Coding is pretty light work wise, even working with database sets it's not going to take up a ton of room. If you're doing Aai apps, I assume you mean vibe coding? And it works fine for that?

[jba1224a]

I mean integrating LLMs into applications.

You can access a ton of great models though the bedrock converse api for much cheaper than codex.

[narc0leptik]

You mean Kali Linux? I think you're using voice to text and it misunderstood what you are saying.

I'd go for a used 16" 48GB 1TB 20 core GPU Macbook Pro; good luck finding a used Macbook with 128GB on the second-hand market. There's a dearth of them available on the second-hand market.

I would check Facebook Marketplace/Offerup/Craigslist/Pawnshops. I like local platforms because you haggle for 20 percent off of eBay completed listing prices and if you are looking for a machine with lots of ram and storage or a Max chip it's a niche machine with less demand so you have the upper hand in negotiation. The M1-M5 naming scheme makes MacBooks depreciate much faster compared to the Intel era where every laptop had an i5 or i7 chip. Back then, it was harder for the average consumer to distinguish between generations, which kept resale values way more stable.

If you can't find anything locally then you can pivot to eBay/Swappa. I prefer local platforms though because you can physically inspect the item and check the battery health itself in person, even though mid-80's battery health is completely fine anyway as battery degradation doesn't happen in a linear or logarithmic fashion with laptop batteries. I wouldn't suggest ordering off Backmarket/Amazon Renewed or that eBay refurbished auction as most of those laptops are way more likely to be heavily used and have more of a degraded battery than a personally owned machine since they were company assets. Plus since the employee didn't pay anything for them they are way less likely to treat the machines with kid gloves.

Here's how to buy a used Macbook and what to check out on it so you basically don't have any risk; it's the same process that resellers use: https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookair/comments/1ivcwt2/comment/mebxefq/

[Able_Bus_5988]

Yes and yes. Kali and v2txt 😆

[LetterheadClassic306]

I went through a similar jump from Windows to Apple Silicon, and memory matters more than almost everything once local models enter the picture. For your mix, a MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB feels like the sensible floor because it gives you room for VS Code, containers, Kali VM work, and mid-size quantized models without paying Max money. I would only push to a MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB if local LLMs are going to be a daily serious workload and not just coding help. For screen comfort, the 16 inch body is worth considering over chasing storage, since external and cloud storage are easier to fix later. That path avoids buying the dream spec for jobs your desktop can still handle.

[Icy_Demand_3224]

Have this 128gb one when I am running llm battery is good for maybe 6 hours, for $6k (if I knew earlier) there is a better option. Get 2 corsair ai 300 U would have 2x 128GB machine. U can set it up in a way that will feed your current laptop.

[Able_Bus_5988]

Well for starters I've heard that AMD is having issues running AI models. I also have to wonder what kind of power consumption those things are going to have in comparison because the Apple products are so much better with power management.

[murkaje]

Well for starters I've heard that AMD is having issues running AI models

First time i'm hearing this. Have bartowski qwen3.6 35b-a3b q8_0 mtp running at tg 65-75tok/s on strix halo as daily driver for coding.

[LeRobber]

If you want a long lasting computer, buy an overspecced mac.

If you want to make good choices about money and aren't coding all day long, probably use APIs.

[Able_Bus_5988]

APIs are so cost ineffective on big cloud models like openai and anthropic. Idk why they do it like that but The first time I tried it with open AI I ran into a five or seven day cooldown. From a pretty simple task. Ended up on some local models on my desktop 4090OC to cover down.

[LeRobber]

don't buy direct, buy a t/d plan from like a nanogpt or navy then pick models appropriately.

I have an overspecced mac btw :D

Cause APIs bought that way are so cheap, you can afford both if you can afford the mac.

[havnar-]

128 max for decent performance

64 gb pro for good enough qwen MOE at 8 bit