Hardware · Apple Silicon

What AI models can the Apple M4 Max (48 GB) run?

Unified memory: 48.0 GB
Usable for models: 36.0 GB
Memory bandwidth: 546 GB/s
FP16 compute: 18.4 TFLOPS
Released: 2024

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 48.0 GB.

Specifications

Maker	Apple Silicon
Type	Apple silicon (system on a chip)
Chip	Apple M4 Max
Unified memory	48.0 GB
Usable for AI models	36.0 GB
Memory bandwidth	546 GB/s
FP16 compute	18.4 TFLOPS
Interface	UNIFIED
Released	2024

3 products with the Apple M4 Max (48 GB)

MacBook Pro (14-inch, M4 Pro or M4 Max, 2024)Apple · Laptop · 24, 36, 48, 64 or 128 GB · from $1,999Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)
MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2024) (M4 Pro or M4 Max)Apple · Laptop · 24, 36, 48, 64 or 128 GB · from $2,499Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)
Mac Studio (2025) (M4 Max or M3 Ultra)Apple · Desktop · 36, 48, 64, 96, 128, 256 or 512 GB · from $1,999Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)

Best LLMs for the Apple M4 Max (48 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Fit
96 ptsExcellent (S) · 96 of 100 points: Model quality 41.2/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Gemma 4 26B-A4BGoogle	`Q6_K`	25.0 GB	52.7 tok/s	Runs well
95 ptsExcellent (S) · 95 of 100 points: Model quality 40.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q5_K_M`	29.2 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
95 ptsExcellent (S) · 95 of 100 points: Model quality 40.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.5 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q5_K_M`	29.2 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
94 ptsExcellent (S) · 94 of 100 points: Model quality 39.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Ornith 1.5 35B-A3BDeepReinforce	`Q5_K_M`	29.2 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
94 ptsExcellent (S) · 94 of 100 points: Model quality 39.2/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	GLM-4.7 Flash (30B-A3B)Zhipu AI	`Q6_K`	29.5 GB	66.7 tok/s	Runs well
93 ptsExcellent (S) · 93 of 100 points: Model quality 38.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Apodex 1.1 Mini (35B-A3B)Apodex	`Q5_K_M`	29.2 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
93 ptsExcellent (S) · 93 of 100 points: Model quality 38.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Ornith 1.0 35B-A3BDeepReinforce	`Q5_K_M`	29.2 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
92 ptsExcellent (S) · 92 of 100 points: Model quality 38.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Agents-A1 35B-A3BInternScience	`Q5_K_M`	28.6 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
92 ptsExcellent (S) · 92 of 100 points: Model quality 38.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen AgentWorld 35B-A3BAlibaba	`Q5_K_M`	28.3 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
90 ptsExcellent (S) · 90 of 100 points: Model quality 35.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Laguna XS 2.1 (33B-A3B)Poolside	`Q5_K_M`	28.6 GB	79.5 tok/s	Runs well
90 ptsExcellent (S) · 90 of 100 points: Model quality 35.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Nemotron Cascade 2 30B-A3BNVIDIA	`Q6_K`	29.4 GB	57.2 tok/s	Runs well
90 ptsExcellent (S) · 90 of 100 points: Model quality 35.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	North Mini Code 1.0 (30B-A3B)Cohere	`Q6_K`	28.8 GB	66.7 tok/s	Runs well

Best Image models for the Apple M4 Max (48 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
89 ptsExcellent (S) · 89 of 100 points: Model quality 37.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 12.7/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 9BBlack Forest Labs	`FP8`	19.9 GB	9.5 s	Runs well
89 ptsExcellent (S) · 89 of 100 points: Model quality 37.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 12.4/15, Memory use 14.6/15	Z-Image TurboAlibaba (Tongyi)	`FP16`	22.7 GB	15 s	Runs well
86 ptsExcellent (S) · 86 of 100 points: Model quality 35.1/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 11.6/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 4BBlack Forest Labs	`FP16`	18.1 GB	5.9 s	Runs well
83 ptsGreat (A) · 83 of 100 points: Model quality 30.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.6/15, Memory use 12.6/15	FLUX.1 [schnell]Black Forest Labs	`FP8`	19.6 GB	11 s	Runs well
82 ptsGreat (A) · 82 of 100 points: Model quality 27.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large TurboStability AI	`FP16`	30.0 GB	9.4 s	Runs well
81 ptsGreat (A) · 81 of 100 points: Model quality 36.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 4.8/15, Memory use 14.6/15	Z-ImageAlibaba (Tongyi)	`FP16`	22.7 GB	1.7 min	Runs well

Best Video models for the Apple M4 Max (48 GB)

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
81 ptsGreat (A) · 81 of 100 points: Model quality 30.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 11.3/15, Memory use 15.0/15	LTX-Video 13B 0.9.8 (distilled)Lightricks	`FP8`	30.1 GB	5.3 min	Runs well
77 ptsGreat (A) · 77 of 100 points: Model quality 32.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 4.4/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FramePack I2V (HunyuanVideo 13B)lllyasviel	`FP8`	28.2 GB	35.2 min	Runs well
76 ptsGreat (A) · 76 of 100 points: Model quality 33.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 2.5/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Wan 2.2 S2V 14B (speech to video)Alibaba	`Q8 GGUF`	29.3 GB	1.9 h	Runs well
75 ptsGreat (A) · 75 of 100 points: Model quality 36.0/45, Memory fit 23.0/25, Speed 1.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Wan 2.2 I2V A14BAlibaba	`Q4 GGUF`	32.7 GB	3.1 h	Tight fit
75 ptsGreat (A) · 75 of 100 points: Model quality 36.0/45, Memory fit 23.0/25, Speed 1.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Wan 2.2 T2V A14BAlibaba	`Q4 GGUF`	32.7 GB	3.1 h	Tight fit

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.