Free tools Windows power users keep installed
One-click scans. No signup required.
Yes—VS Code can use a locally hosted model for chat without a GitHub sign-in or Copilot plan, including in a fully offline setup. But it is not a full Copilot replacement: local BYOK chat does not provide Copilot-backed inline code suggestions, semantic search, or embedding-dependent features. Whether you get more done depends on your model, machine, and coding workflow.
What “ditching Copilot” means in this setup
VS Code’s bring-your-own-key (BYOK) support lets you select compatible providers and local models in its chat interface. A local model can answer questions about code and assist with chat-based tasks while running on your own machine. For that use, Microsoft says a GitHub sign-in and Copilot plan are not required, and the setup can work offline. See VS Code’s AI language models documentation.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
That describes a route to local-model chat, not a like-for-like migration of every Copilot feature. The distinction matters if your workflow relies on suggestions appearing as you type or on semantic search across a project. Those capabilities remain dependent on GitHub services or internet connectivity rather than local BYOK.
Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteHow to use an Ollama model in VS Code
For Ollama, use the official Ollama VS Code extension. VS Code marks its built-in Ollama provider as deprecated and directs users to the extension maintained by the Ollama team. Ollama’s integration instructions say the extension discovers models from http://127.0.0.1:11434 by default.
#1 Best Overall
- EVOLUTION AMD RYZEN AI MAX+ 395 MINI PC - GMKtec EVO-X2 is the next evolution in AI mini PC Ryzen Strix Halo series. Thanks to AMD Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) the core-count is effectively doubled, to 32 threads. Ryzen AI Max+ 395 has 64 MB of L3 cache and can boost up to 5.1 GHz, depending on the workload. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is currently rated as the "most powerful x86 APU" on the market for AI computing.
- AI NPU with XDNA 2 ARCHITECTURE - Powered by 16 “Zen 5” CPU cores, 50+ peak AI TOPS XDNA 2 NPU and a truly massive integrated GPU driven by 40 AMD RDNA 3.5 CUs, the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 is a transformative upgrade and delivers a significant performance boost over the competition. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 excels in consumer AI workloads like the llama.cpp-powered application: LM Studio. Shaping up to be the must-have app for client LLM workloads, LM Studio allows users to locally run the latest language model without any technical knowledge required and unleash their creativity and productivity.
- AMD RADEON 8090S iGPU GAMING PC - The AMD Radeon RX 8060S offers all 40 CUs with up to 2.9 GHz graphics clock and uses the new RDNA 3.5 architecture. The powerful iGPU is positioned between an RTX 4060 and 4070 laptop GPU and therefore enables gaming in FHD at maximum details in most demanding games. The 8060S can also utilize the full 128GB pool, which is perfect for running LLMs such as Deepseek 70B Q8, which runs comfortably on this machine.
- EIGHT CHANNEL LPDDR5X - LPDDR5X is a new ground breaking memory small form factor installed on-board. With blazing speeds up to to 8000MT/s, it runs 1.5x faster than the DDR5 SODIMMs; 90% better performance over DDR5 SODIMMs in video conferencing and photo editing; 30% better performance in productivity apps; 12% better performance in digital content workloads.
- QUAD SCREEN 8K DISPLAY SUPPORT - EVO-X2 AI Mini PC support 4-screen 4K/8K output via HDMI 2.1 (8K@60Hz), DisplayPort 1.4 (4K@60Hz), and dual USB 4 40Gbps Transfer speed (supporting PD3.0/DP1.4/DATA). Ideal for gaming, video editing, and multitasking, it provides expansive and crisp multi-display support.
- Check the prerequisites. Ollama lists VS Code 1.127 or newer, an installed and running Ollama service, and at least one available model. Its instructions say local models do not require sign-in. See Ollama’s VS Code integration guide.
- Install the Ollama VS Code extension and ensure the local Ollama service is running with a model available.
- Open VS Code chat’s model picker, or run
Chat: Manage Language Models, then add or select the provider and choose the model for chat. The exact model-picker presentation can vary by VS Code version. - Check context length if prompts fail or lose earlier details. Ollama’s guide says VS Code may display a model’s maximum context even when Ollama allocates a smaller context at runtime. For its local-model workflow, Ollama advises setting context length to at least 64k, reloading VS Code, and resending the prompt. This is that guide’s recommendation, not a universal hardware requirement.
Ollama gives ollama pull qwen3.6 as an example command for fetching a model. It is an example, not a quality recommendation; model choice should be judged against the work you actually need to do.
What works offline—and what does not
| Capability | Local BYOK offline | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Chat with a selected local model | Yes | VS Code documents local-model chat without a GitHub sign-in or Copilot plan. |
| Inline code suggestions | No | VS Code says local models cannot currently be connected through BYOK for inline suggestions. |
| Semantic search and embedding-dependent features | No | These require GitHub account and internet connectivity under VS Code’s documented feature boundary. |
| Utility tasks such as title generation and commit messages | Potentially, with configuration | VS Code documents chat.utilityModel and chat.utilitySmallModel for assigning models to utility work. Without GitHub sign-in, default Copilot utility models are unavailable; configure BYOK models if you want those tasks to use a local model. |
Kayla Cinnamon, writing on the VS Code Blog on June 18, 2026, put the boundary succinctly: “BYOK applies to chat and utility tasks, not standard code completions.” The details are in her VS Code BYOK explainer.
Rank #2
- Built for Local AI Development: AMD Ryzen AI Halo is designed for local AI development and inference, featuring 128GB unified memory and support for up to 200B parameter models to build and run intensive AI workloads locally.
- 128GB Unified Memory: Features 128GB LPDDR5x unified memory at 8000 MT/s with 256 GB/s memory bandwidth, providing a shared memory pool across the CPU, GPU, and NPU to support larger AI models.
- AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 Processor: Features 16 cores, 32 threads, and Zen 5 architecture, paired with AMD Radeon 8060S integrated graphics featuring 40 RDNA 3.5 compute units and an AMD XDNA 2 NPU with up to 50 TOPS.
- Linux AI Developer Platform: Purpose-built for Linux-based AI development with full AMD ROCm software support and preloaded tools, models, and workflows optimized for local AI development.
- Compact, Connected Design: Includes a 2TB M.2 SSD, 10GbE LAN, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, USB-C connectivity, and HDMI 2.1b.
Local BYOK is different from enterprise BYOK
GitHub documents two BYOK mechanisms that are easy to confuse. Local BYOK is handled on the client, stores keys locally, and removes dependence on GitHub’s Copilot API; GitHub describes it as suitable for air-gapped environments or people without a Copilot subscription. Enterprise BYOK is server-side, applies to models served through the Copilot API, and requires both a Copilot license and internet access. Business and Enterprise administrators can also disable local BYOK through policy. See GitHub’s BYOK documentation.
Will a local model make you more productive?
Offline availability can be valuable when connectivity, data handling, or access to a Copilot plan is the deciding factor. But “getting more done” is a personal result, not something established by the feature documentation. A useful comparison is to try the local model on the tasks that take real time in your work: explaining unfamiliar code, drafting a small function, diagnosing an error, or helping navigate a repository. Track whether it saves time after accounting for prompt revisions and manual checking.
Rank #3
- EVOLUTION AMD RYZEN AI MAX+ 395 MINI PC - GMKtec EVO-X2 is the next evolution in AI mini PC Ryzen Strix Halo series. Thanks to AMD Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) the core-count is effectively doubled, to 32 threads. Ryzen AI Max+ 395 has 64 MB of L3 cache and can boost up to 5.1 GHz, depending on the workload. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is currently rated as the "most powerful x86 APU" on the market for AI computing.
- AI NPU with XDNA 2 ARCHITECTURE - Powered by 16 “Zen 5” CPU cores, 50+ peak AI TOPS XDNA 2 NPU and a truly massive integrated GPU driven by 40 AMD RDNA 3.5 CUs, the Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 is a transformative upgrade and delivers a significant performance boost over the competition. The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 excels in consumer AI workloads like the llama.cpp-powered application: LM Studio. Shaping up to be the must-have app for client LLM workloads, LM Studio allows users to locally run the latest language model without any technical knowledge required and unleash their creativity and productivity.
- AMD RADEON 8090S iGPU GAMING PC - The AMD Radeon RX 8060S offers all 40 CUs with up to 2.9 GHz graphics clock and uses the new RDNA 3.5 architecture. The powerful iGPU is positioned between an RTX 4060 and 4070 laptop GPU and therefore enables gaming in FHD at maximum details in most demanding games. The 8060S can also utilize the full 64GB pool, which is perfect for running LLMs such as Deepseek 32B, which runs comfortably on this machine.
- EIGHT CHANNEL LPDDR5X - LPDDR5X is a new ground breaking memory small form factor installed on-board. With blazing speeds up to to 8000MT/s, it runs 1.5x faster than the DDR5 SODIMMs; 90% better performance over DDR5 SODIMMs in video conferencing and photo editing; 30% better performance in productivity apps; 4% better performance in digital content workloads.
- QUAD SCREEN 8K DISPLAY SUPPORT - EVO-X2 AI Mini PC support 4-screen 4K/8K output via HDMI 2.1 (8K@60Hz), DisplayPort 1.4 (4K@60Hz), and dual USB 4 40Gbps Transfer speed (supporting PD3.0/DP1.4/DATA). Ideal for gaming, video editing, and multitasking, it provides expansive and crisp multi-display support.
Also compare the workflows honestly. If you rely heavily on inline completions, semantic search, or embedding-based assistance, local chat alone will leave a gap. If most of your assistance comes from deliberate chat prompts and you need that help offline, BYOK may cover the part of Copilot you value most. Model capability, context handling, runtime setup, and the actual work being done all affect the result.
One published benchmark offers a narrow data point, not a productivity verdict. Matotek, Cassel, Amiruzzaman, and Ngo’s September 18, 2025 preprint evaluated eight Ollama-hosted code models in the 6.7–9 billion-parameter range on all 3,589 problems in the Kattis corpus. Its abstract reports that the best local models achieved approximately half the acceptance rate of the proprietary comparison models Gemini 1.5 and ChatGPT-4. That is evidence about competitive-programming problem solving in that evaluation—not everyday IDE productivity, the model you choose, or how much faster a particular developer works. Read the preprint and its stated scope.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
- 【Leading AI Mini Workstation】MINISFORUM AI MS-S1 Max Workstation comes with AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor, which uses AMD's latest generation Zen 5 architecture. It has 16 Cores and 32 Threads, the boost clock is up to 5.1GHz. The overall processor performance is up to 126 TOPS, and the NPU performance reaches up to 50 TOPS. AMD Ryzen AI enables improved productivity, advanced collaboration, and improved efficiency.
- 【AMD Radeon 8060S Graphics 】The MS-S1 Max Mini PC equipped with AMD Radeon 8060S Graphics which built on the new generation of RDNA 3.5 architecture AMD graphics, it brings ultra-high frame rate experiences and advanced content creation features anywhere and delivers staggering performance. It can handle all your computing and multimedia tasks efficiently.
- 【Five 8K Video Output】This MS-S1 Max Workstation comes with five video outputs, 1x HDMI (8K@60Hz), 2x USB4(40Gbps,Alt DP2.0,PD out 15W) and 2x USB4 V2(80Gbps,Alt DP2.0,PD out 15W) Outputs, which support multiple monitors display at the same time and provide a larger and wider filed of view and improve your work efficiency. It is used in fields that require high-performance computing and graphics processing, including digital signage and securities trading, as well as work that uses CAD, such as engineering design, scientific calculations, animation production, and post-production for movies and television
- 【 Fast and Stable Wire & Wireless Speed】It comes with Two 10G Lan Ports for wired connection and and Wi-Fi 7 / BT5.4 for wireless connection, which increased the network speed greatly and expand its functions and improved performance of computer to a large extent and allows you to use more networks such as software routers (OpenWRT / DD-WRT / Tomato etc.), firewalls, NAT, network isolation etc.
- 【Large Storage & Flexible Expandability】This Workstation equipped with 64GB LPDDR5-8000MHz + 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe4.0 SSD. There is another PCIe4.0 SSD slot available for up to 8TB, these SSD slots are compatible with RAID0 and RAID1, you can store movies, videos, photos, important files easily. What’s more, it also comes with 1x standard PCIex16 slot(PCIe4.0x4) inside.
Who should consider switching?
- Consider local BYOK if offline chat is a priority and you are comfortable managing a local model runtime and choosing a model suited to your tasks.
- Do not expect feature parity if your definition of Copilot is primarily inline suggestions, semantic project search, or embedding-backed features.
- Check organizational policy if you use a managed Business or Enterprise account, since administrators can disable local BYOK.
- Judge productivity from your own workflow rather than extrapolating from a benchmark of programming-contest problems.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
The Tool Desk
Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →
