Products · Apple · Laptop

Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M2, 2023)

Chip: Apple M2
Unified memory: 8, 16 or 24 GB
Launch price from: $1,299
Released: 2023

View on the Apple website (opens in a new tab) Full AI report

Configurations

Pick one to see which models it runs. More memory lets larger models fit; bandwidth sets how fast they answer.

Configuration	Memory	Usable for AI	Bandwidth	LLMs that run well	Launch price
Apple M2 · 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU	8.0 GB	5.4 GB	100 GB/s	207 of 536	$1,299
Apple M2 · 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU	16.0 GB	10.7 GB	100 GB/s	303 of 536	$1,499
Apple M2 · 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU	24.0 GB	16.1 GB	100 GB/s	363 of 536	$1,699

Specifications 24.0 GB configuration

Maker	Apple
Type	Laptop
Chip	Apple M2 (24 GB) · 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU
Unified memory	24.0 GB
Usable for AI models	16.1 GB
Memory bandwidth	100 GB/s
FP16 compute	3.6 TFLOPS
Notes	15.3-inch, fanless; base later raised to 16GB
Maker’s page	support.apple.com (opens in a new tab)

Best LLMs for the Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M2, 2023) 24.0 GB

Grade · points	Model	Quant	Memory	Speed	Fit
84 ptsGreat (A) · 84 of 100 points: Model quality 35.0/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 10.1/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Gemma 4 26B-A4BGoogle	`Q3_K_M`	14.9 GB	18.0 tok/s	Tight fit
82 ptsGreat (A) · 82 of 100 points: Model quality 37.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 5.9/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Gemma 4 12BGoogle	`Q6_K`	12.4 GB	6.1 tok/s	Runs well
80 ptsGreat (A) · 80 of 100 points: Model quality 36.1/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 5.3/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba	`Q3_K_M`	16.0 GB	4.9 tok/s	Tight fit
80 ptsGreat (A) · 80 of 100 points: Model quality 34.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 6.5/15, Memory use 14.4/15	Ornith 1.5 9BDeepReinforce	`Q6_K`	10.1 GB	7.6 tok/s	Runs well
79 ptsGreat (A) · 79 of 100 points: Model quality 31.5/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 9.4/15, Memory use 15.0/15	gpt-oss 20BOpenAI	`MXFP4`	14.0 GB	15.7 tok/s	Tight fit
79 ptsGreat (A) · 79 of 100 points: Model quality 33.9/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 6.5/15, Memory use 14.4/15	Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba	`Q6_K`	10.1 GB	7.6 tok/s	Runs well
79 ptsGreat (A) · 79 of 100 points: Model quality 35.5/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 5.3/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba	`Q3_K_M`	16.0 GB	4.9 tok/s	Tight fit
79 ptsGreat (A) · 79 of 100 points: Model quality 27.7/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 12.8/15, Memory use 15.0/15	GLM-4.7 Flash (30B-A3B)Zhipu AI	`Q2_K`	14.8 GB	28.9 tok/s	Tight fit
79 ptsGreat (A) · 79 of 100 points: Model quality 35.2/45, Memory fit 24.0/25, Speed 5.3/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba	`Q3_K_M`	16.0 GB	4.9 tok/s	Tight fit
79 ptsGreat (A) · 79 of 100 points: Model quality 33.4/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 6.5/15, Memory use 14.4/15	Ornith 1.0 9BDeepReinforce	`Q6_K`	10.1 GB	7.6 tok/s	Runs well

Best Image models for the Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M2, 2023) 24.0 GB

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
85 ptsExcellent (S) · 85 of 100 points: Model quality 34.4/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 11.2/15, Memory use 14.6/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 4BBlack Forest Labs	`FP8`	10.2 GB	18 s	Runs well
84 ptsGreat (A) · 84 of 100 points: Model quality 37.0/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 7.1/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Z-Image TurboAlibaba (Tongyi)	`FP8`	12.6 GB	45 s	Runs well
80 ptsGreat (A) · 80 of 100 points: Model quality 37.0/45, Memory fit 20.0/25, Speed 8.1/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FLUX.2 [klein] 9BBlack Forest Labs	`FP8`	11.7 GB	34 s	Runs well
78 ptsGreat (A) · 78 of 100 points: Model quality 36.5/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 2.4/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Z-ImageAlibaba (Tongyi)	`Q8 GGUF`	13.0 GB	6.5 min	Runs well
75 ptsGreat (A) · 75 of 100 points: Model quality 34.3/45, Memory fit 23.0/25, Speed 2.8/15, Memory use 15.0/15	FLUX.1 Krea [dev]Black Forest Labs	`Q4 GGUF`	14.8 GB	4.8 min	Tight fit
74 ptsGreat (A) · 74 of 100 points: Model quality 32.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 2.3/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Chroma1-HDLodestone Rock	`NF4`	12.5 GB	7.3 min	Runs well

Best Video models for the Apple MacBook Air (15-inch, M2, 2023) 24.0 GB

Grade · points	Model	Precision	Memory	Time per output	Fit
71 ptsGood (B) · 71 of 100 points: Model quality 22.1/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 9.5/15, Memory use 15.0/15	LTX-Video 2BLightricks	`FP8`	10.8 GB	7.5 min	Runs well
67 ptsGood (B) · 67 of 100 points: Model quality 24.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 3.1/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Wan 2.1 T2V 1.3BAlibaba	`FP8`	12.8 GB	71.7 min	Runs well
65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 19.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 6.1/15, Memory use 15.0/15	CogVideoX 2BZhipu AI	`FP8`	11.0 GB	17.9 min	Runs well
65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 24.3/45, Memory fit 23.0/25, Speed 3.5/15, Memory use 15.0/15	CogVideoX 5BZhipu AI	`FP8`	14.3 GB	53.8 min	Tight fit
65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 24.3/45, Memory fit 23.0/25, Speed 3.5/15, Memory use 15.0/15	CogVideoX 5B I2VZhipu AI	`FP8`	14.9 GB	53.8 min	Tight fit

Other products with the Apple M2 (24 GB)

MacBook Air (M2, 2022)Apple · Laptop · 8, 16 or 24 GB · from $1,199Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022)Apple · Laptop · 8, 16 or 24 GB · from $1,299Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)
Mac mini (2023) (M2 or M2 Pro)Apple · Mini PC · 8, 16, 24 or 32 GB · from $599Maker’s page (opens in a new tab)

Spec sources

support.apple.com

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.