Hardware · Apple Silicon

What AI models can the Apple M3 Pro (36 GB) run?

Unified memory: 36.0 GB
Usable for models: 24.1 GB
Memory bandwidth: 150 GB/s
FP16 compute: 7.4 TFLOPS
Released: 2023

macOS lets the GPU use roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of unified memory by default, so we plan around that figure rather than the full 36.0 GB.

Specifications

Maker	Apple Silicon
Type	Apple silicon (system on a chip)
Chip	Apple M3 Pro
Unified memory	36.0 GB
Usable for AI models	24.1 GB
Memory bandwidth	150 GB/s
FP16 compute	7.4 TFLOPS
Interface	UNIFIED
Released	2023

2 products with the Apple M3 Pro (36 GB)

MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3 Pro or M3 Max, Nov 2023)Apple · Laptop · 18, 36, 48, 64, 96 or 128 GB · from $1,999Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)
MacBook Pro (16-inch, Nov 2023) (M3 Pro or M3 Max)Apple · Laptop · 18, 36, 48, 64, 96 or 128 GB · from $2,499Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)

Best LLMs for the Apple M3 Pro (36 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Fit
90 ptsExcellent (S) · 90 of 100 points: Model quality 39.5/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 10.8/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Gemma 4 26B-A4BGoogle	`Q4_K_M`	18.7 GB	20.9 tok/s	Runs well
89 ptsExcellent (S) · 89 of 100 points: Model quality 35.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 13.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	34.2 tok/s	Runs well
89 ptsExcellent (S) · 89 of 100 points: Model quality 35.2/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 13.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.5 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	34.2 tok/s	Runs well
88 ptsExcellent (S) · 88 of 100 points: Model quality 37.6/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 12.2/15, Memory use 15.0/15	GLM-4.7 Flash (30B-A3B)Zhipu AI	`Q4_K_M`	22.0 GB	26.4 tok/s	Tight fit
88 ptsExcellent (S) · 88 of 100 points: Model quality 37.2/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 12.2/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Agents-A1 35B-A3BInternScience	`Q4_K_M`	24.1 GB	26.4 tok/s	Tight fit
88 ptsExcellent (S) · 88 of 100 points: Model quality 37.2/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 12.2/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen AgentWorld 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q4_K_M`	23.8 GB	26.4 tok/s	Tight fit
87 ptsExcellent (S) · 87 of 100 points: Model quality 34.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 13.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Ornith 1.5 35B-A3BDeepReinforce	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	34.2 tok/s	Runs well
87 ptsExcellent (S) · 87 of 100 points: Model quality 33.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 13.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Apodex 1.1 Mini (35B-A3B)Apodex	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	34.2 tok/s	Runs well
87 ptsExcellent (S) · 87 of 100 points: Model quality 33.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 13.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Ornith 1.0 35B-A3BDeepReinforce	`Q3_K_M`	20.3 GB	34.2 tok/s	Runs well
86 ptsExcellent (S) · 86 of 100 points: Model quality 40.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 5.7/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba	`Q4_K_M`	20.0 GB	5.7 tok/s	Runs well
85 ptsExcellent (S) · 85 of 100 points: Model quality 40.2/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 5.7/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba	`Q4_K_M`	20.0 GB	5.7 tok/s	Runs well
85 ptsExcellent (S) · 85 of 100 points: Model quality 39.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 5.7/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba	`Q4_K_M`	20.0 GB	5.7 tok/s	Runs well

Best Image models for the Apple M3 Pro (36 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
87 ptsExcellent (S) · 87 of 100 points: Model quality 37.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 10.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 9BBlack Forest Labs	`FP8`	19.9 GB	19 s	Runs well
83 ptsGreat (A) · 83 of 100 points: Model quality 34.4/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.7/15, Memory use 9.7/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 4BBlack Forest Labs	`FP8`	10.2 GB	10 s	Runs well
83 ptsGreat (A) · 83 of 100 points: Model quality 37.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 9.3/15, Memory use 12.0/15	Z-Image TurboAlibaba (Tongyi)	`FP8`	12.6 GB	26 s	Runs well
81 ptsGreat (A) · 81 of 100 points: Model quality 30.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 10.4/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FLUX.1 [schnell]Black Forest Labs	`FP8`	19.6 GB	21 s	Runs well
80 ptsGreat (A) · 80 of 100 points: Model quality 36.2/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 4.2/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FLUX.1 Krea [dev]Black Forest Labs	`FP8`	19.6 GB	2.1 min	Runs well
79 ptsGreat (A) · 79 of 100 points: Model quality 35.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 4.2/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FLUX.1 [dev]Black Forest Labs	`FP8`	19.6 GB	2.1 min	Runs well

Best Video models for the Apple M3 Pro (36 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
71 ptsGood (B) · 71 of 100 points: Model quality 31.8/45, Memory fit 23.0/25, Speed 1.7/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Wan 2.2 S2V 14B (speech to video)Alibaba	`Q4 GGUF`	21.6 GB	3.9 h	Tight fit
70 ptsGood (B) · 70 of 100 points: Model quality 31.0/45, Memory fit 23.0/25, Speed 1.8/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Wan 2.1 I2V 14B 480PAlibaba	`Q4 GGUF`	20.6 GB	3.5 h	Tight fit
70 ptsGood (B) · 70 of 100 points: Model quality 32.6/45, Memory fit 20.0/25, Speed 3.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FramePack I2V (HunyuanVideo 13B)lllyasviel	`FP8`	19.6 GB	73.1 min	Runs well
69 ptsGood (B) · 69 of 100 points: Model quality 22.1/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 12.5/15, Memory use 10.4/15	LTX-Video 2BLightricks	`FP8`	10.8 GB	4.4 min	Runs well
68 ptsGood (B) · 68 of 100 points: Model quality 24.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 3.8/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Wan 2.1 T2V 1.3BAlibaba	`FP16`	19.8 GB	46.4 min	Runs well

Best LLMs by task on this hardware Open in Model Finder

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.