UTLYZE

Choose the computers. See what they do.

The budget simulator starts from a dollar figure and decides the machines for you. This page starts from the machines. Choose how many of each computer, how each one is built — memory, storage, networking — and which model runs on it. The page works out how many people it serves, how much of each kind of work it can carry at the same time, what it costs to buy, what it costs to keep for three years, the staff it needs and the power it draws. Every unit price is the exact total Apple's own configurator displayed for that exact build on September 3, 2026 fact, with the generation it replaced priced beside it.
How to use this page. Set the number of each computer and how each one is built. The rest of the page re-figures as you go: who it serves, what it carries, what it costs. Every control has an (i) that says what it changes and where its number came from. Nothing here is a purchase or an approved budget — it is an estimate, and each figure carries a fact, est or unknown chip saying how far it can be trusted.
The computers, and how each one is built
Memory Storage 10-gigabit networking
Each of these sets the machine counts and puts every machine back to the build the plan recommends — 48 GB and 512 GB with 10-gigabit networking on a mini, 512 GB on a 128 GB Studio, 1 TB on an Ultra. It does not change who the service is for; that is a separate control below.
Which model runs on each kind of computer
Model mirror
Who the service is for
Which price list
Apple's education store price is lower than its retail price on every Mac here fact. NVIDIA publishes no education price for the DGX Spark, so its retail price stands on both settings unknown.
Who runs it
The two rules behind every figure here. What a machine can carry. The plan counts four conversations at once per serving computer as its mixed-work planning limit — one average across the mixture of work a campus really sends. It is cautious for plain chat (a mini holds about eight), fair for coding help (four), and generous both for questions about a document the machine has not read before (two) and for a coding agent, which occupies a machine on its own. The table of work kinds breaks that out. What a campus needs. About 1.44 conversations at once per 1,000 people on an ordinary teaching day, and roughly nine times that in an exam-week stress test. One spare machine per seven and one shared rack kit per six are added for you, and one node's storage is upgraded to hold the model mirror — the same rules the simulator uses. est
What this fleet carries at once, by kind of work — and what the chosen models score
Newest lineup vs the generation it replaced — this configuration
What each machine runs, how much storage it needs, and what the previous generation cost
Newest lineup (August 2026)Memory choicesStorage the plan recommendsModels it can serve (planning quality score out of 100)Typical useThe same role, previous generation
Mac mini M5 Pro48 GB / 64 GB512 GB est
Needs about 119–172 GB once macOS, its models, logs, the serving software's automatic cache and a free-space reserve are counted.
Qwen3.8-27B (52) — the everyday model; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B (32) and Qwen3.5-9B (22) as fast lanes. 64 GB holds the 27B and the 35B at the same time with room to workChat, tutoring, coding help and questions about documents — the workhorse for every collegeMac mini M4 Pro 48 GB · launched at $1,399 for the family fact; this exact build's launch price unknown; refurbished $1,949 on September 3, 2026 fact
Mac Studio M5 Max128 GB512 GB est
Needs about 207–275 GB on the same arithmetic.
Mistral Small 4 (20) or gpt-oss-120B (24), both under the Apache-2.0 license, eight conversations at once; Qwen3.8-Flash-Next (56) fits only three and its license is on hold, so the page will not select itHeavier writing and analysis; engineering and science; runs the everyday model on the same machineMac Studio M4 Max 128 GB · launched at $3,699 fact; refurbished $4,159 on September 3, 2026 fact
Mac Studio M5 Ultra · 256 GB256 GB1 TB est
A 182 GB model on disk pushes the minimum to about 370–465 GB, so 512 GB is too tight.
GLM-5.3-Flash (57, MIT license) — handles pictures as well as text, eight conversations at once (four at twenty words a second or better)One shared heavyweight machine for the campus; research, pictures and videoMac Studio M3 Ultra 256 GB · launched at about $7,099 est; refurbished $8,149 on September 3, 2026, on the lower 28/60 chip fact
Mac Studio M5 Ultra · 512 GB — research node512 GB1 TB, or 2 TB if it also holds the model mirror est
GLM-5.3 is 428 GB on disk; the minimum works out at about 721–875 GB.
GLM-5.3 (60) — the strongest model that runs with no cloud at all, about two conversations at onceA research instrument, not a service. Its conversations are counted on their own lineNo previous-generation equivalent. Apple displayed this machine on September 3, 2026 as "coming late October" with no price and no way to select it unknown
NVIDIA DGX Spark128 GB4 TB, fixed fact
NVIDIA shows no other storage choice.
Not a serving machine here — a teaching and model-training computer for NVIDIA's own softwareNamed laboratory use in Engineering; counted in the cost, never in the capacityThe same computer either way — $4,699 fact. Whether it can be ordered is unknown: the product page says "Add to Cart" while NVIDIA's catalog says "Out of Stock"
Storage sizes are the plan's own arithmetic, not Apple's advice: a serving computer must hold macOS and its applications (30–40 GB), the models it serves, the service's retained logs (10–20 GB), the automatic cache the serving software keeps — which takes a tenth of whatever disk is fitted — and a 20–30% free-space reserve. Whether a bigger disk is also a faster disk on these machines is unknown until they ship on September 22, 2026, so storage here is bought for capacity, not for speed. Refurbished prices are Apple Certified Refurbished listings seen on September 3, 2026 — one price, no education discount, one unit per listing; whether four or twenty-six matching units exist is unknown until they are reserved. Full surveys: Appendix O (the two generations), Appendix Q (which model runs on which machine), Appendix R (limits by kind of work), Appendix U (staffing and five-year money).

Prepared independently by Utlyze. Not a publication of, endorsed by, or affiliated with Utah Valley University.