Early reviews of the M5 Ultra Mac Studio highlight its exceptional performance for local AI workloads. Federico Viticci at Mac Stories tested the machine with 256 GB of RAM, calling it a 'dream machine for local AI agents.' He emphasizes that the M5 Ultra Mac Studio enables running personal assistants with local models at great performance and zero cloud costs. Viticci notes it surpasses his previous M3 Ultra Mac Studio and even his gaming PC with RTX 5090, particularly praising unified memory and thermal performance.

Max Weinbach confirms it's the most powerful computer he's used, with Qwen 3.8 Flash performing exceptionally well on the 256GB configuration. Both the M6 Mac mini and M5 Max/M5 Ultra Mac Studio begin shipping tomorrow.