What can the Apple M4 Max run?
With 36 GB, 8 of 12 popular open models fit. The best pick is Qwen3 30B-A3B at about 96 tok/s, faster than you can read.
ollama run qwen3:30bFirst time? Install Ollama, then paste that into a terminal. Is this your machine? Check it on the homepage.
Every model the Apple M4 Max 36 GB can run
8 of 12 fit. Best pick: Qwen3 30B-A3B.
- Qwen3 4BQuick everyday chat and summaries~120 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:4b - Qwen3 8BA solid all-rounder for chat and writing~58 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:8b - Gemma 3 12BReads images as well as text~37 tok/sRuns great
gemma3:12b - Qwen3 14BNoticeably smarter at reasoning and code~32 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:14b - gpt-oss 20BOpenAI's open model. Fast, strong reasoning~96 tok/sRuns great
gpt-oss:20b - Gemma 3 27BGoogle's best open model for its size~18 tok/sUsable
gemma3:27b - Qwen3 30B-A3B30B smarts at small-model speed~96 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:30b - Qwen3 32BStrong coding and long answers~15 tok/sUsable
qwen3:32b - Llama 3.3 70BClose to the big cloud modelsneeds 45 GBToo big
llama3.3:70b - gpt-oss 120BOpenAI's largest open modelneeds 67 GBToo big
gpt-oss:120b - Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba's flagship open model, for multi-GPU rigsneeds 144 GBToo big
qwen3:235b - DeepSeek R1 671BThe full DeepSeek R1, for the biggest rigsneeds 406 GBToo big
deepseek-r1:671b
Every model the Apple M4 Max 48 GB can run
8 of 12 fit. Best pick: Qwen3 30B-A3B.
- Qwen3 4BQuick everyday chat and summaries~120 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:4b - Qwen3 8BA solid all-rounder for chat and writing~58 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:8b - Gemma 3 12BReads images as well as text~37 tok/sRuns great
gemma3:12b - Qwen3 14BNoticeably smarter at reasoning and code~32 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:14b - gpt-oss 20BOpenAI's open model. Fast, strong reasoning~96 tok/sRuns great
gpt-oss:20b - Gemma 3 27BGoogle's best open model for its size~18 tok/sUsable
gemma3:27b - Qwen3 30B-A3B30B smarts at small-model speed~96 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:30b - Qwen3 32BStrong coding and long answers~15 tok/sUsable
qwen3:32b - Llama 3.3 70BClose to the big cloud modelsneeds 45 GBToo big
llama3.3:70b - gpt-oss 120BOpenAI's largest open modelneeds 67 GBToo big
gpt-oss:120b - Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba's flagship open model, for multi-GPU rigsneeds 144 GBToo big
qwen3:235b - DeepSeek R1 671BThe full DeepSeek R1, for the biggest rigsneeds 406 GBToo big
deepseek-r1:671b
Every model the Apple M4 Max 64 GB can run
9 of 12 fit. Best pick: Qwen3 30B-A3B.
- Qwen3 4BQuick everyday chat and summaries~120 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:4b - Qwen3 8BA solid all-rounder for chat and writing~58 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:8b - Gemma 3 12BReads images as well as text~37 tok/sRuns great
gemma3:12b - Qwen3 14BNoticeably smarter at reasoning and code~32 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:14b - gpt-oss 20BOpenAI's open model. Fast, strong reasoning~96 tok/sRuns great
gpt-oss:20b - Gemma 3 27BGoogle's best open model for its size~18 tok/sUsable
gemma3:27b - Qwen3 30B-A3B30B smarts at small-model speed~96 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:30b - Qwen3 32BStrong coding and long answers~15 tok/sUsable
qwen3:32b - Llama 3.3 70BClose to the big cloud models~7 tok/sSlow
llama3.3:70b - gpt-oss 120BOpenAI's largest open modelneeds 67 GBToo big
gpt-oss:120b - Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba's flagship open model, for multi-GPU rigsneeds 144 GBToo big
qwen3:235b - DeepSeek R1 671BThe full DeepSeek R1, for the biggest rigsneeds 406 GBToo big
deepseek-r1:671b
Every model the Apple M4 Max 128 GB can run
10 of 12 fit. Best pick: gpt-oss 120B.
- Qwen3 4BQuick everyday chat and summaries~120 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:4b - Qwen3 8BA solid all-rounder for chat and writing~58 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:8b - Gemma 3 12BReads images as well as text~37 tok/sRuns great
gemma3:12b - Qwen3 14BNoticeably smarter at reasoning and code~32 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:14b - gpt-oss 20BOpenAI's open model. Fast, strong reasoning~96 tok/sRuns great
gpt-oss:20b - Gemma 3 27BGoogle's best open model for its size~18 tok/sUsable
gemma3:27b - Qwen3 30B-A3B30B smarts at small-model speed~96 tok/sRuns great
qwen3:30b - Qwen3 32BStrong coding and long answers~15 tok/sUsable
qwen3:32b - Llama 3.3 70BClose to the big cloud models~7 tok/sSlow
llama3.3:70b - gpt-oss 120BOpenAI's largest open model~66 tok/sRuns great
gpt-oss:120b - Qwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba's flagship open model, for multi-GPU rigsneeds 144 GBToo big
qwen3:235b - DeepSeek R1 671BThe full DeepSeek R1, for the biggest rigsneeds 406 GBToo big
deepseek-r1:671b
Can the Apple M4 Max run it?
Can the Apple M4 Max run Llama 3.3 70B?
Yes, with 64 GB or more. Llama 3.3 70B needs about 45 GB and the Apple M4 Max with 64 GB of unified memory leaves about 48 GB for models. Expect about 7 tok/s, slow, but it works. The 36 and 48 GB versions don't have room.
Can the Apple M4 Max run gpt-oss 120B?
Yes, with 128 GB or more. gpt-oss 120B needs about 67 GB and the Apple M4 Max with 128 GB of unified memory leaves about 96 GB for models. Expect about 66 tok/s, faster than you can read. The 36, 48 and 64 GB versions don't have room.
Can the Apple M4 Max run Qwen3 235B-A22B?
No. Qwen3 235B-A22B needs about 144 GB and the Apple M4 Max has at most 128 GB of unified memory, of which about 96 GB is usable for models. The most capable model it runs well is gpt-oss 120B, at about 66 tok/s.
Real runs on the Apple M4 Max
Loading measured runs…
Generating a token reads the model's active weights from memory once, so speed is roughly memory bandwidth (546 GB/s) divided by the active weight size, with efficiency calibrated on our own rack. Sizes are Ollama's default 4-bit downloads plus about 1.2 GB for context. macOS lets the GPU use about two thirds to three quarters of unified memory, so that is what we count. Real results are usually within about a third. Measured runs are on the leaderboard.
The Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC, 128 GB runs gpt-oss 120B at about 31 tok/s, from $3,400 used.
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The Apple M4 Max against its rivals
- Apple M4 Max vs RTX 409024 GB · 1008 GB/s
- Apple M4 Max vs NVIDIA DGX Spark128 GB · 273 GB/s
- Apple M4 Max vs Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (Radeon 8060S)128 / 64 / 96 GB · 256 GB/s
- Apple M4 Max vs Apple M1 Ultra64 / 128 GB · 800 GB/s
- Apple M4 Max vs Apple M2 Ultra64 / 128 / 192 GB · 800 GB/s
- Apple M4 Max vs Apple M5 Max36 / 48 / 64 / 128 GB · 460 GB/s
- Apple M4 Max vs Apple M3 Max36 / 48 / 64 / 96 / 128 GB · 400 GB/s