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All estimates are approximations based on mathematical models and public specifications. Actual performance may vary. Do not make purchasing decisions based solely on these estimates.

Data sourced from Hugging Face, Ollama, and official model documentation. Model names and logos are trademarks of their respective owners.

© 2026 Will It Run AI — Fase Consulting Ibiza, S.L. (NIF: B57969656)

Home/Hardware/Macs/MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB
Apple

Apple

MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB

M2LaptopM2UNIFIEDMetal
96GB
Unified Memory
400GB/s
Bandwidth
$3,199 MSRP

About this GPU for AI

MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB with 96 GB unified memory. Second-generation Apple Silicon with improved GPU performance and memory bandwidth, offering a strong balance of efficiency and AI capability.

Specifications

Compute
ArchitectureM2
Memory
Unified Memory96 GB
Bandwidth400 GB/s
General
FamilyM2
SegmentLaptop
InterconnectUNIFIED
Compute PlatformMETAL
MSRP$3,199

For AI Workloads

Strengths
  • Improved memory bandwidth over M1 (~50% increase)
  • Unified memory architecture ideal for LLM inference
  • Strong MLX ecosystem support
  • Excellent performance per watt
Considerations
  • Still limited by memory capacity in base configurations
  • Lower bandwidth than discrete datacenter GPUs

Architecture

M2

Apple M2 is the second generation of Apple Silicon, with improved GPU cores and higher memory bandwidth. The M2 Ultra scales to 192 GB unified memory via UltraFusion die-to-die interconnect.

AI Relevance

Higher memory bandwidth (~50% more than M1 in Ultra config) directly improves token generation speed for LLMs. The M2 Ultra with 192 GB unified memory can run 70B models at full Q4 quantization with good performance.

Process: TSMC 5nm (2nd gen)Platform: METALPrecisions: FP32, FP16

M2 brings a 10-core GPU with improved memory bandwidth. The 100 GB/s bandwidth in base models and up to 200 GB/s in Pro/Max variants provides solid decode throughput for local LLMs.

Recommendations by Workload

Agentic Coding

C

Qwen3-Coder-Next

This model is still usable for agentic-coding, but it is not the most specialized pick. It belongs to a current frontier family for local AI. It should run, but memory headroom will be limited. Known channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.

Decode 14.4 tok/s · 36K ctx · llama.cpp
61.0 GB / 96.0 GB Unified Memory

Chat

C

Qwen 3 32B

This model is a direct match for chat. It belongs to a current frontier family for local AI. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Known channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.

Decode 11.9 tok/s · 17K ctx · llama.cpp
33.3 GB / 96.0 GB Unified Memory

Coding

C

Qwen3-Coder-Next

This model is a direct match for coding. It belongs to a current frontier family for local AI. It should run, but memory headroom will be limited. Known channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.

Decode 14.4 tok/s · 18K ctx · llama.cpp
60.9 GB / 96.0 GB Unified Memory

RAG

C

Command R 35B

This model is a direct match for rag. It sits in the middle of the current model mix. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Known channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.

Decode 10.9 tok/s · 51K ctx · llama.cpp
43.6 GB / 96.0 GB Unified Memory

Reasoning

C

Qwen 3 32B

This model is a direct match for reasoning. It belongs to a current frontier family for local AI. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Known channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.

Decode 11.9 tok/s · 31K ctx · llama.cpp
35.8 GB / 96.0 GB Unified Memory

Full Model Compatibility

AlibabaQwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct
C48
30.5B30.7 GB32 tok/s36K ctx
moe
AlibabaQwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct
C48
30B30.4 GB33 tok/s36K ctx
moe
AlibabaQwen3-Coder-Next
C48
80B60.9 GB14 tok/s18K ctx
moe
UnslothQwen3.5 35B A3B
C47
35B38.1 GB11 tok/s29K ctx
dense
Lmstudio-communityLQwen3.5 35B A3B
C47
35B38.1 GB11 tok/s29K ctx
dense
AlibabaQwen 2.5 Coder 32B
C47
32B35.8 GB12 tok/s31K ctx
dense
UnslothQwen3.5 4B
C47
4B14.5 GB95 tok/s76K ctx
dense
BartowskiBLlama 3.2 3B Instruct
C47
3B14.2 GB110 tok/s78K ctx
dense
Lmstudio-communityLgemma 3 4b it
C47
4B14.5 GB95 tok/s76K ctx
dense
BartowskiBgemma 2 2b it
C46
2B13.7 GB149 tok/s81K ctx
dense
QwenQwen2.5 3B Instruct
C46
3B13.9 GB127 tok/s80K ctx
dense
Googlegemma 2b
C46
2B13.3 GB190 tok/s83K ctx
dense
TheDrummerTGemmasutra Mini 2B v1
C46
2B13.3 GB190 tok/s83K ctx
dense
UnslothQwen3.5 27B
C46
27B32.0 GB14 tok/s35K ctx
dense
QwenQwen2.5 1.5B Instruct
C46
1.5B13.0 GB232 tok/s85K ctx
dense
Hugging-quantsHLlama 3.2 1B Instruct Q8 0
C46
1B12.9 GB244 tok/s86K ctx
dense
TheBlokeTTinyLlama 1.1B Chat v1.0
C46
1.1B12.7 GB232 tok/s87K ctx
dense
Unslothgemma 3 27b it
C46
27B32.0 GB14 tok/s35K ctx
dense
Ggml-orgGSmolVLM 500M Instruct
C46
0.5B12.5 GB244 tok/s89K ctx
dense
Ggml-orgGembeddinggemma 300M
C46
0.3B12.3 GB244 tok/s90K ctx
dense
MistralDevstral Small 2 24B Instruct
C46
24B29.7 GB16 tok/s37K ctx
dense
TheBlokeTLlama 2 7B Chat
C46
7B16.6 GB54 tok/s66K ctx
dense
MistralDevstral Small 1.1
C46
24B29.7 GB16 tok/s37K ctx
dense
TheBlokeTMistral 7B Instruct v0.2
C46
7B16.6 GB54 tok/s66K ctx
dense
MaziyarPanahiMMistral 7B Instruct v0.3
C46
7B16.6 GB54 tok/s66K ctx
dense
BartowskiBMeta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
C45
8B17.4 GB48 tok/s64K ctx
dense
XtunerXllava llama 3 8b v1 1
C45
8B17.4 GB48 tok/s64K ctx
dense
MistralCodestral 2 25.08
C45
22B28.1 GB17 tok/s39K ctx
dense
UnslothDeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B
C45
8B17.4 GB48 tok/s64K ctx
dense
UnslothQwen3.5 9B
C45
9B18.2 GB42 tok/s61K ctx
dense
HauhauCSHQwen3.5 9B Uncensored HauhauCS Aggressive
C45
9B18.2 GB42 tok/s61K ctx
dense
MaziyarPanahiMMeta Llama 3 8B Instruct
C45
8B17.4 GB48 tok/s64K ctx
dense
MetaLlama 3.3 70B
C45
70B64.9 GB5 tok/s17K ctx
dense
AlibabaQwen 2.5 72B
C45
72B66.4 GB5 tok/s17K ctx
dense
Lmstudio-communityLQwen3.5 9B
C45
9B18.2 GB42 tok/s61K ctx
dense
AlibabaQwen 2.5 VL 72B
C45
72B66.4 GB5 tok/s17K ctx
dense
DeepSeekDeepSeek R1 671B
F0
671B426.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
MistralDevstral 2 123B Instruct
F0
123B105.5 GB3 tok/s10K ctx
dense
Z.aiGLM-5
F0
744B471.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
Moonshot AIKimi K2.5
F0
1000B626.3 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
MistralMistral Large 3
F0
675B429.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
+1moe
MistralMistral Small 4 119B
F0
119B84.9 GB9 tok/s13K ctx
moe
AlibabaQwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
F0
480B309.5 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
UnslothQwen3.5 122B A10B
F0
122B90.1 GB4 tok/s12K ctx
dense
DeepSeekDeepSeek V3 671B
F0
671B426.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
MistralMixtral 8x22B
F0
141B103.4 GB5 tok/s11K ctx
moe
AlibabaQwen 3 235B A22B
F0
235B158.1 GB4 tok/s7K ctx
moe
UnslothQwen3.5 397B A17B
F0
397B315.5 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
dense
MetaLlama 4 Maverick 17B 128E
F0
400B257.9 GB3 tok/s4K ctx
moe
CohereCommand A 111B
F0
111B96.3 GB3 tok/s11K ctx
dense

Just out of reach

Models you could run with an upgrade

High-quality models that need a bit more memory

DeepSeekDeepSeek R1 671B
671BTier 5Needs ~432.1 GB
MistralDevstral 2 123B Instruct
123BTier 5Needs ~124.7 GB
Runs on Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB
Z.aiGLM-5
744BTier 5Needs ~477.6 GB
Moonshot AIKimi K2.5
1000BTier 5Needs ~631.3 GB
MistralMistral Large 3
675BTier 5Needs ~435.8 GB

Upgrade paths

Upgrade from MacBook Pro M2 Max 96GB

See what you unlock with more powerful hardware

Upgrade options

Upgrade options

NVIDIANVIDIA A100 80GBNext step up
2039 GB/s (+1639)
A
Unlocks Mistral Small 4 119B, Llama 4 Scout 17B 16E+634% faster avg

~$15,000 MSRP

AppleMac Studio M2 Ultra 128GBApple upgrade
128 GB Unified (+32)800 GB/s (+400)
B
Unlocks Mistral Small 4 119B, Llama 4 Scout 17B 16E, Solar Open 100B+1 more · +98% faster avg

~$3,999 MSRP

AMDAMD Instinct MI325X 256GBBiggest leap
256 GB VRAM (+160)6000 GB/s (+5600)
A
Unlocks Devstral 2 123B Instruct, Mistral Small 4 119B, Qwen3.5 122B A10B+14 more · +1694% faster avg

 

AMDAMD Instinct MI350X 288GBBest value
288 GB VRAM (+192)8000 GB/s (+7600)
A
Unlocks Devstral 2 123B Instruct, Mistral Small 4 119B, Qwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct+15 more · +2285% faster avg

~$8,000 MSRP

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