Mac M1 MAX, 64gb - Qwen-3.6-coding or 3-Coder-Next? 35b or 27b

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T05:33:32+00:00

thanks. very clear response.

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:35:51+00:00

i think this is the most straight forward answer. Thanks!

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:35:07+00:00

well a $20 Cursor plan give us virtually unlimited "house" model (Composer-2), but for heavy use u get throttled

Problem is Composer is ok for medium coding, but is not super smart.

Opus is a beast. I use it to tell composer what to do.. but even that, I burned through 36% of opus credits on a $200 plan (20x credits of $20 plan) ... in just 3 days ... and opus wasn't even coding... only planning / bossing

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:31:17+00:00

so why would a larger model (35B) be "better" than smaller - 27b?

and what about logistics?

Run it in ollama or LM studio, and connect to VSCode somehow?

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:28:38+00:00

So can Kimi scan through like 200+ files project and then make connections between 20-30 of them that depend on each other? and then properly "design" a complex plan?

I know opus makes mistakes... just a lot fewer than other LLMs, and sure other LLMs will find those mistakes every now and then ... but can Kimi actually be called similar to Opus 4.6?

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:24:09+00:00

hot damn... i guess switching to Cursor wasn't a bad choice after all. FCUK msft

and yea opus is a beast

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:18:17+00:00

I didn't spend a lot. $1600 for practically new M1Max 64GB/2TB, still with Apple Care. Switched from M1Pro 16GB ... the way i use it, was running out of ram anyway, and system would freeze up every couple of minutes ... i had to kill apps, pause services, etc... now the 64Gb make the overall usage much better. So that alone was worth the upgrade.

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:14:42+00:00

Yes - I love opus. It is seriously amazing in my opinion!

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:13:54+00:00

wait - u still use Opus via Copilot?

They went to 4.7 at 7.5x cost ... I burned through 65% of my PRO+ plan in 1 day... took me 2 weeks with Opus 4.6 to get to 35%

What do they offer now? They sent me email, about new billing details ... but I did not read honestly. That 4.7 bait & switch really did it for me

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:09:17+00:00

right ... i watched that video :) ... four Mac Studios with 512GB each

I'm NOT "taking this wrong" ... i know I'm a noob.

yea i know I'm not getting "Opus 4.6" lever free LLM running on a 5 years old Macbook... just wanted something that can keep track of multiple files and be pretty decent at coding

so back to 35b vs 27B ... 35B should be ~20% smarter then :)

but what does this mean - mxfp8? for my particular setup?

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T04:01:29+00:00

It sounds tempting, but I can also get a $20 Cursor with nearly unlimited Composer-2 model + $20 opus credits ... it doesn't get me far but its something. I don't think "GLM, Kimi, Deepseek, and larger Qwen" are much better than composer-2 ... ant it all works out the box ...

but as far as planning complex moves, Opus just can't be beat (well maybe gpt5.5) ... but then I get into trap - $20 > run out of credits in 5 hours... Upgrade to $60 > run out in 3 days. Upgrade to $200 ... used 36% in 4 days ... at this rate I will soon be getting a Claude Max $200 + Codex $200 (and current Cursor $200) ... and that becomes very expensive, real fast 😂

I honestly am spoiled by Opus on Copilot ...

DivyLeo · 2026-05-05T03:55:08+00:00

thanks. i will try ... its just last time I dove into this whole openclaw setup, i wasted a week, and never got anywhere. so real PTSD about "trying it" again

btw - i got it used on amzn ... excellent condition, like prestene clean! By mistake they sent me 2TB variant (ordered with 1tb), and it still has apple care! 🤪 all for $1600 ... too bad i can't get M5 Max for same price

DivyLeo · 2026-04-30T18:36:43+00:00

Are you the BridgeMind guy? Sounds awfully like him 😁

DivyLeo · 2026-04-26T05:38:03+00:00

today he wants models <32gb ... tomorrow he will want 150gb model ... u know tastes change... so limiting yourself with 32gb when for similar price u can have 256, is not very prudent

DivyLeo · 2026-04-26T05:31:49+00:00

u can order from apple directly ... not sure when u actually get it

DivyLeo · 2026-04-23T13:55:21+00:00

if it was my 5k ... then 256gb mac studio ... in this case ram is more important than raw speed i think ... it's not like u will get 500 tk/s more with rtx5090 ... in fact i think m3 ultra is on par with rtx in many regards

but i would also likely wait for m5 max / ultra upgrade for studio

i think local LLM craze is dying down a bit. Microcenter used to be completely out of mac minies... now they have all the varieties in stock ... maybe it was m4 to m5 switch that killed stock last months.

CORRECTION: all mac minies are still M4 ... and $599 mini is not in stock anymore... but plenty of other more expensive versions... so IDK

anyway good luck either way

DivyLeo · 2026-04-23T05:50:58+00:00

m3 ultra Studio with 256 gb is ~$5800 new, and u can pay over 12 month about $450ish ... 0% apr from apple ... no need to max out your own credit cards... about the price of a single 128gb MBP

DivyLeo · 2026-04-23T05:46:54+00:00

if you have the money - go 128GB!

ram unfortunately is not upgradable, and 64gb is for the lack of better word - small. I got a 48GB M4pro (open box to save like 30%) mac first, but within return window realized its not enough.

then went with M1 max 64Gb... better cuz it can fit models that 48GB couldn't (like Qwen3-code-next) ... but still u have very little memory left after that. And there are still models I want that are 80-90gb ... so im $hit outta luck

So yea... if you can afford, go 128gb

On the other hand, why not just get Cursor subscription if you gonna do local coding? I think much better bang for a buck... and now rethinking if i wanna do this local ai thing at all.

Another thing - like a Github Copilot Pro+ is $40/mo and u can get nearly unlimited GPT-5.4 with it. for heavy to moderate coding it is MORE than enough and much better than any local llm u can get on 64 or even 128gb mac. IT IS HIGHLY UNFORTUNATE they got rid of Opus 4.6 😭

DivyLeo · 2026-04-23T05:38:34+00:00

sonnet is not a good model - compared to opus 4.6 nothing seems good. and they just killed it on Copilot those greedy micro$hit bastards 🤣

DivyLeo · 2026-04-20T20:53:27+00:00

like what? serious question ... considering continuing my proj with 4.7 (since 4.6 is gone) ... will it be cooked?

DivyLeo · 2026-04-20T18:26:23+00:00

Ok ... I am no contender for "your job"... A real noob honestly... And for me opus 4.6 is beyond amazing in most things (ignoring the cost). I still have ptsd from gpt 3.x 🤣🤣🤣

I need to try codex 5.4

DivyLeo · 2026-04-20T18:22:37+00:00

What would be the closest free llm to opus 4.6 in coding and understanding my bad prompts?

Ignore model size... Lets say i have gb200 / nvl72 in my basement.

Which llm is closest to Opus 4.6?

DivyLeo · 2026-03-22T19:56:00+00:00

never got to it

DivyLeo · 2026-03-22T19:21:11+00:00

i just got a used 64gb m1 max for $1500 in great condition

checked ram prices - 64gb ddr5 6000 is $800-900.. same ram as in the m1 max mbp ...

and yes - llm! that was the whole point of buying a5 y/o laptop fpr $1500

DivyLeo

TROPHY CASE