Considering buying a maxed out MacBook Pro M5 Max with 128GB of RAM and one of the things I want to figure out before pulling the trigger is whether local models are good enough to actually replace cloud AI coding tools. My current setup is Claude Code on a Max subscription plus GitHub Copilot through work. It works well but I’m curious if local models have gotten good enough to actually replace that, not just supplement it. Not talking about occasional use or running smaller models for autocomplete. I mean fully replacing the agentic stuff, the multi-file edits, the back and forth reasoning that Claude Code handles. Can local models actually keep up with that workload on this hardware? If you made the switch, what are you running? Ollama, LM Studio, something else? Which models? And honestly, what did you have to give up, if anything? submitted by /u/Brazeuslian
Originally posted by u/Brazeuslian on r/ClaudeCode