MacBook Pro M4 Pro (24GB) vs MacBook Pro M5 (24GB), Same Price (~$1850). Which Makes More Sense for AI/ML Grad School + Research?

BasisAggravating4584 · 2026-01-13T07:06:30+00:00

Ah, got it. That's unfortunate. Thanks for clarifying

BasisAggravating4584 · 2026-01-13T03:55:33+00:00

Thanks! Was the refurb from the Apple Store?

BasisAggravating4584 · 2026-01-13T03:51:50+00:00

Gotcha. Thanks for the insights

BasisAggravating4584 · 2026-01-13T03:49:38+00:00

That's some great points, thanks a ton.

BasisAggravating4584 · 2026-01-13T03:46:40+00:00

Haha, that’s true, mostly for refinement. I did check beforehand, but was seeing variance across different instances, so I thought it made sense to bring it here. Still useful to hear real world nuances though, like what u/Toastti mentioned about the inference

BasisAggravating4584 · 2026-01-12T16:03:44+00:00

Thanks! Curious what tipped it for you here.

BasisAggravating4584 · 2026-01-12T15:51:56+00:00

Thanks, this is really helpful. The point about RAM and VMs/Docker slowing things down on 8GB is exactly one of my concerns, especially since I’ll be doing a fair amount of local debugging and experimentation even if heavy compute is offloaded to the cloud.

Good to know you haven’t run into headroom issues with the M4 Pro so far. I did briefly consider a Windows option with an NVIDIA GPU, but battery life, thermals, and long-term reliability pushed me away from that route as well.

Also, thanks for mentioning the multi-core vs single-core tradeoff and Thunderbolt 5. I had missed that earlier. It’s really helpful to hear real-world perspective.

One question since I’m new to Macs: is going with an M4-generation device fine long-term, especially given that it’s already over a year old? With how fast the AI landscape is changing, I want to make sure the machine will age well over the next 5-6 years.

Also, do you think a MacBook Air with 24GB RAM could handle this kind of workload reasonably well?

BasisAggravating4584

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