PC & HARDWARE · 11 Nov 2026
Mac Studio M5 Ultra vs Nvidia DGX Spark for local AI
Local AI inference is moving from experiment to serious infrastructure decision, and hardware choice now deserves real scrutiny. Tom's Hardware is benchmarking Apple's Mac Studio with M5 Ultra against Nvidia's DGX Spark to see how they handle local AI workloads. The story makes a useful point for anyone planning an AI setup: software matters as much as silicon. Inference engine recipes become mandatory for bigger models, and Apple's MLX stack is still maturing. It also raises the budget question directly, since a local inference setup can cost over $10K. For developers, engineers and IT teams, the lesson is to test real workloads before committing.
Key points
- Apple's Mac Studio enters the local AI race Tom's Hardware benchmarks the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra against Nvidia's DGX Spark for running AI models locally.
- The key detail: recipes and MLX The story stresses that inference engine recipes are mandatory for bigger models as Apple's MLX stack matures.
- Why it matters for your AI setup A local AI inference setup can cost over $10K, so the piece asks whether a Mac Studio is the right fit for you.