Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192GB) vs NVIDIA DGX Spark for Local AI
Side-by-side comparison of 2 AI workstation configurations. All specs from manufacturer datasheets.
| Specification | Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192GB) | NVIDIA DGX Spark |
|---|---|---|
| Form Factor | compact desktop | compact desktop |
| GPU Model | Apple M2 Ultra GPU (76-core) | NVIDIA Blackwell (integrated in GB10) |
| GPU Count | 1 | 1 |
| Gpu vram each gb | 192 | 128 |
| Total GPU VRAM (GB) | 192 | 128 |
| Memory Architecture | unified (LPDDR5) | unified (LPDDR5x) |
| Gpu memory bandwidth each gbps | 800 | 273 |
| System RAM (GB) | 192 | 128 |
| System Memory Type | LPDDR5 unified | LPDDR5x unified |
| CPU Model | Apple M2 Ultra (24-core CPU) | NVIDIA Grace Blackwell (GB10) |
| CPU Vendor | Apple | ARM |
| Cpu cores | 24 | 20 (10 Cortex-X925 + 10 Cortex-A725) |
| Storage primary gb | 1024 | 4096 |
| Storage Type | NVMe SSD | NVMe SSD |
| Power supply watts | 370 | 150 |
| Estimated peak power watts | 370 | 150 |
| Cooling | active air | active air |
| Dimensions | 197 × 197 × 95 mm | 202 × 202 × 63 mm |
| Weight kg | 5.7 | 2.3 |
| Operating system | macOS | NVIDIA DGX OS (Ubuntu-based) |
| CUDA Support | No | Yes |
| Metal Support | Yes (MLX framework) | No |
| Linux Support | No (not officially) | Yes (DGX OS) |
| Windows Support | No | No |
| Wsl support | No | No |
| Warranty (Years) | 1 | 3 |
| Onsite Support | No (AppleCare+ available) | No |
| Release Year | 2023 | 2025 |
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Category Winners
Most Accelerator Memory
Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192GB)
Lowest Price
NVIDIA DGX Spark
Lowest Power
NVIDIA DGX Spark
Best Value (VRAM/$)
NVIDIA DGX Spark
Model-Fit Comparison (Q4 Quantization)
Calculated estimates using the site's central ModelFitService.
| Model | Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192GB) | NVIDIA DGX Spark |
|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.1 8B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Llama 3.1 70B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Llama 3.2 1B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Llama 3.2 3B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Qwen 2.5 7B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Qwen 2.5 14B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Qwen 2.5 32B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Qwen 2.5 72B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mistral 7B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Mixtral 8x7B | ✓ | ✓ |
| DeepSeek R1 7B | ✓ | ✓ |
| DeepSeek R1 32B | ✓ | ✓ |
| DeepSeek R1 70B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Phi-3 Medium 14B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gemma 2 9B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Gemma 2 27B | ✓ | ✓ |
| Stable Diffusion XL | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flux.1 Dev | ✓ | ✓ |
| Flux.1 Schnell | ✓ | ✓ |
Which Should You Choose?
Apple Mac Studio M2 Ultra (192GB)
AppleBest value for loading very large models locally. 192GB unified memory at $6,999 is unmatched per-GB cost.
Best for: Large model inference (70B-405B class)
Limitation: No CUDA, significantly slower token generation than NVIDIA for most models
NVIDIA DGX Spark
NVIDIABest for developers who need 128GB unified memory for large model prototyping without multi-GPU complexity.
Best for: Large model prototyping (up to 200B)
Limitation: ARM-based, no Windows support, not user-upgradeable
Some links are affiliate links. See our disclosure. Specifications from manufacturer datasheets — no hands-on testing was performed.