For the past few days, I’ve been testing the ( currently ) top-of-the-line M5 Ultra Mac Studio with 256 GB of RAM . I’ll cut to the chase: the M5 Ultra Mac Studio is a dream machine for local AI agents. This computer makes it possible to run personal assistants powered by local models with great performance and no additional cloud costs. If you’ve been skeptical of testing OpenClaw or Hermes Agent with local models because they’d never be even remotely near the intelligence and speed of cloud ones, this Mac will change your mind about that. Since last Thursday, I’ve been comparing this Mac Studio to its predecessor, the M3 Ultra with 512 GB of RAM , as well as my own desktop gaming PC with an RTX 5090 inside. For its size, price, thermal performance – not to mention Apple’s approach to unified memory – the M5 Ultra Mac Studio has fundamentally changed how I think about models running locally and what they can enable now.…