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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 M4 32GB
Apple

Apple

MacBook Pro M4 32GB

M4LaptopM4UNIFIEDMetal
32GB
Unified Memory
120GB/s
Bandwidth
$799 MSRP

About this GPU for AI

MacBook Pro M4 32GB with 32 GB unified memory. Fourth-generation Apple Silicon with enhanced Neural Engine and improved memory bandwidth, designed for AI-first workflows including local LLM inference.

Specifications

Compute
ArchitectureM4
Memory
Unified Memory32 GB
Bandwidth120 GB/s
General
FamilyM4
SegmentLaptop
InterconnectUNIFIED
Compute PlatformMETAL
MSRP$799

For AI Workloads

Strengths
  • Enhanced 16-core Neural Engine for ML acceleration
  • Up to 546 GB/s memory bandwidth (Max)
  • Excellent power efficiency for sustained inference
  • Best-in-class MLX performance
  • Thunderbolt 5 for external GPU expansion
Considerations
  • Maximum 128 GB unified memory (less than some workstations)
  • No CUDA support — limited to MLX and llama.cpp Metal

Architecture

M4

Apple M4 is the latest Apple Silicon generation, using TSMC's second-generation 3nm process. It features an enhanced Neural Engine with up to 38 TOPS and higher memory bandwidth across all tiers.

AI Relevance

The M4 Max with 128 GB unified memory and up to 546 GB/s bandwidth is currently the fastest Apple Silicon option for local LLM inference. Combined with MLX framework optimizations, it delivers the best tokens-per-second of any Mac configuration.

Process: TSMC 3nm (2nd gen)Platform: METALPrecisions: FP32, FP16

M4 is Apple's most AI-capable chip yet with up to 546 GB/s bandwidth in the Max variant. The unified memory architecture means models up to ~90 GB (at 72% usable) can run natively without offloading, covering most 70B models at Q4 quantization.

Recommendations by Workload

Agentic Coding

C

Gemma 3 12B

This model is still usable for agentic-coding, but it is not the most specialized pick. It sits in the middle of the current model mix. It fits natively with comfortable headroom. Known channels: huggingface, ollama, lm-studio.

Decode 11.8 tok/s · 48K ctx · llama.cpp
15.4 GB / 32.0 GB Unified Memory

Chat

C

Qwen 3 14B

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 10.1 tok/s · 13K ctx · llama.cpp
14.0 GB / 32.0 GB Unified Memory

Coding

C

Qwen 2.5 Coder 14B

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

Decode 10.1 tok/s · 24K ctx · llama.cpp
15.1 GB / 32.0 GB Unified Memory

RAG

C

granite 8b code instruct 4k

This model is a direct match for rag. It sits in the middle of the current model mix. It fits natively with comfortable headroom.

Decode 17.7 tok/s · 63K ctx · llama.cpp
11.7 GB / 32.0 GB Unified Memory

Reasoning

C

Qwen 3 14B

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 10.1 tok/s · 24K ctx · llama.cpp
15.1 GB / 32.0 GB Unified Memory

Full Model Compatibility

AlibabaQwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct
C48
30B23.5 GB12 tok/s16K ctx
moe
Hugging-quantsHLlama 3.2 1B Instruct Q8 0
C48
1B6.0 GB91 tok/s62K ctx
dense
AlibabaQwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct
C48
30.5B23.8 GB12 tok/s16K ctx
moe
QwenQwen2.5 1.5B Instruct
C48
1.5B6.1 GB86 tok/s61K ctx
dense
Googlegemma 2b
C47
2B6.4 GB71 tok/s58K ctx
dense
TheBlokeTTinyLlama 1.1B Chat v1.0
C47
1.1B5.8 GB86 tok/s63K ctx
dense
Ggml-orgGSmolVLM 500M Instruct
C47
0.5B5.6 GB91 tok/s66K ctx
dense
TheDrummerTGemmasutra Mini 2B v1
C47
2B6.4 GB71 tok/s58K ctx
dense
UnslothQwen3.5 9B
C47
9B11.3 GB16 tok/s33K ctx
dense
Ggml-orgGembeddinggemma 300M
C47
0.3B5.4 GB91 tok/s68K ctx
dense
HauhauCSHQwen3.5 9B Uncensored HauhauCS Aggressive
C47
9B11.3 GB16 tok/s33K ctx
dense
Lmstudio-communityLQwen3.5 9B
C47
9B11.3 GB16 tok/s33K ctx
dense
BartowskiBgemma 2 2b it
C47
2B6.8 GB55 tok/s54K ctx
dense
BartowskiBMeta Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
C47
8B10.5 GB18 tok/s35K ctx
dense
XtunerXllava llama 3 8b v1 1
C47
8B10.5 GB18 tok/s35K ctx
dense
UnslothDeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B
C47
8B10.5 GB18 tok/s35K ctx
dense
MaziyarPanahiMMeta Llama 3 8B Instruct
C47
8B10.5 GB18 tok/s35K ctx
dense
QwenQwen2.5 3B Instruct
C47
3B7.0 GB47 tok/s53K ctx
dense
BartowskiBLlama 3.2 3B Instruct
C46
3B7.3 GB41 tok/s50K ctx
dense
TheBlokeTLlama 2 7B Chat
C46
7B9.7 GB20 tok/s38K ctx
dense
TheBlokeTMistral 7B Instruct v0.2
C46
7B9.7 GB20 tok/s38K ctx
dense
MaziyarPanahiMMistral 7B Instruct v0.3
C46
7B9.7 GB20 tok/s38K ctx
dense
UnslothQwen3.5 4B
C46
4B7.6 GB35 tok/s49K ctx
dense
Lmstudio-communityLgemma 3 4b it
C46
4B7.6 GB35 tok/s49K ctx
dense
MistralCodestral 2 25.08
C46
22B21.2 GB6 tok/s17K ctx
dense
MistralDevstral Small 2 24B Instruct
C46
24B22.7 GB6 tok/s16K ctx
dense
MistralDevstral Small 1.1
C45
24B22.7 GB6 tok/s16K ctx
dense
UnslothQwen3.5 27B
D35
27B25.0 GB5 tok/s15K ctx
dense
Unslothgemma 3 27b it
D35
27B25.0 GB5 tok/s15K ctx
dense
DeepSeekDeepSeek R1 671B
F0
671B419.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
MistralDevstral 2 123B Instruct
F0
123B98.6 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
dense
Z.aiGLM-5
F0
744B464.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
UnslothQwen3.5 35B A3B
F0
35B31.2 GB4 tok/s12K ctx
dense
Moonshot AIKimi K2.5
F0
1000B619.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
MistralMistral Large 3
F0
675B422.5 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
+1moe
MistralMistral Small 4 119B
F0
119B78.0 GB4 tok/s5K ctx
moe
AlibabaQwen3-Coder 480B A35B Instruct
F0
480B302.6 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
AlibabaQwen3-Coder-Next
F0
80B54.0 GB5 tok/s7K ctx
moe
UnslothQwen3.5 122B A10B
F0
122B83.2 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
dense
DeepSeekDeepSeek V3 671B
F0
671B419.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
MistralMixtral 8x22B
F0
141B96.5 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
AlibabaQwen 2.5 72B
F0
72B59.5 GB2 tok/s6K ctx
dense
AlibabaQwen 3 235B A22B
F0
235B151.1 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
UnslothQwen3.5 397B A17B
F0
397B308.6 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
dense
MetaLlama 3.3 70B
F0
70B58.0 GB2 tok/s6K ctx
dense
MetaLlama 4 Maverick 17B 128E
F0
400B251.0 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
moe
CohereCommand A 111B
F0
111B89.4 GB2 tok/s4K ctx
dense
AlibabaQwen 2.5 Coder 32B
F0
32B28.9 GB4 tok/s13K ctx
dense
AlibabaQwen 2.5 VL 72B
F0
72B59.5 GB2 tok/s6K ctx
dense
Lmstudio-communityLQwen3.5 35B A3B
F0
35B31.2 GB4 tok/s12K 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 ~425.2 GB
MistralDevstral 2 123B Instruct
123BTier 5Needs ~117.8 GB
Runs on Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB
Z.aiGLM-5
744BTier 5Needs ~470.7 GB
UnslothQwen3.5 27B
27BTier 5Needs ~29.3 GB
Runs on RTX 5090 32GB (~$1,999)
UnslothQwen3.5 35B A3B
35BTier 5Needs ~36.6 GB
Runs on Mac mini M4 64GB (~$1,099)

Upgrade paths

Upgrade from MacBook Pro M4 32GB

See what you unlock with more powerful hardware

Upgrade options

Upgrade options

NVIDIANVIDIA A10 24GBNext step up
600 GB/s (+480)
B
Unlocks Qwen3.5 27B, gemma 3 27b it, gemma 3 27b it+2 more · +434% faster avg

 

AppleMacBook Pro M4 Max 36GBApple upgrade
36 GB Unified (+4)410 GB/s (+290)
B
Unlocks Qwen3.5 27B, gemma 3 27b it, gemma 3 27b it+2 more · +195% faster avg

~$2,499 MSRP

AppleMac mini M4 64GBBest value
64 GB Unified (+32)
B
Unlocks Qwen3.5 27B, Qwen3.5 35B A3B, Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B+21 more

~$1,099 MSRP

AMDAMD Instinct MI350X 288GBBiggest leap
288 GB VRAM (+256)8000 GB/s (+7880)
A
Unlocks Devstral 2 123B Instruct, Qwen3.5 27B, Qwen3.5 35B A3B+51 more · +5649% faster avg

~$8,000 MSRP

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