Sunk Cost says a $3,499 local AI Mac needs 44 years to break even
The calculator turns local inference enthusiasm into a payback schedule, then shows how quickly cheaper APIs can make the hardware case worse.
By RuntimeWire Staff · Published
Primary source: Sunk Cost
Why it matters
Local AI hardware can deliver privacy, control and offline access, but cheap hosted inference makes token savings a weak justification for a new machine at moderate usage.
The builder behind Sunk Cost has put a price on one of local AI's favorite promises: buy the hardware once, stop paying model providers, and eventually come out ahead. For a representative coding workload on Apple's coming M5 Max Mac Studio, the calculator puts "eventually" 44 years away.…
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