Apple · M1 Ultra · Desktop

Best AI Models for Mac Studio M1 Ultra (128 GB)

Runs 27–31B and 120B MoE models well; dense 70B fits but is slow at 12 tok/s.

128 GB unified124.5 GB for models800 GB/s31 TFLOPS FP162022

Memory

What LLMs can the Mac Studio M1 Ultra run?

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3	Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB	27.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB
4	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	91.7 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB	77.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB	27.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB
3	Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB	75.9 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
4	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	91.7 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB	77.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3	Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB	27.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB
4	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	91.7 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB	77.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB

#	Model	Speed	Math Score	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3	Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB	75.9 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
4	Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB	27.5 tok/s	overall	Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB	77.0 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB

#	Model	Speed ↓	Quant · Memory
1	GPT OSS 20BOpenAIHow to run → Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB	106 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
2	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	91.7 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
3	Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB	88.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
4	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB	77.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB
5	Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB	75.9 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB

#	Model	Speed	Agents Score	Quant · Memory
1	GPT OSS 120BOpenAIHow to run → Q4_K_M · 70.8 GB	74.6 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 70.8 GB
2	Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s	overall	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3	Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB	32.1 tok/s	overall	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
4	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB	77.0 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB
5	GLM 4.7 FlashZ.ai Q4_K_M · 19.9 GB	68.4 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 19.9 GB

See all 367 models on the Mac Studio M1 Ultra →Bars = traction for models without a Score yet
Task rankings use that task's benchmarks, topped up from Overall when short; bars mark well-known models with no Score yet.

About the Mac Studio M1 Ultra (128 GB)

The Mac Studio M1 Ultra is the fastest 128 GB machine: it runs 27–31B and 120B MoE models well. macOS keeps about 3.5 GB, leaving 124.5 GB for models. Prompt reading is its weak spot: a 4K-token prompt waits 36 s before the first word on Qwen3.8 27B. M1 Ultra generation, released 2022; the newer M2 Ultra writes 0% faster with 1.7× the compute.

Speed in 128 GB#1800 GB/s

Prompt reading#631 TFLOPS

For models124.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GB

ChipM1 Ultrareleased 2022

Mac Studio M1 Ultra strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Runs 120B MoE models: GPT OSS 120B at 74.6 tok/s in 70.8 GB
Room for long context: Qwen3.8 27B at Q4 uses 17.9 GB, leaving 106.6 GB free

Weaknesses

Slow prompt reading: A 32K-token prompt on Qwen3.8 27B waits 4.9 min for the first token
No CUDA: vLLM, AWQ, GPTQ and FP8 builds don't run; use GGUF or MLX

Memory for models

124.5 GB of 128 GB

35B MoE22 GB70B51.3 GB123B74.7 GB

35B MoE22 GB123B74.7 GB

For models 124.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GBModel size at Q4

Everything on the size ladder fits. Two 27B-class models together use 35.7 GB and leave 88.8 GB free.

Similar devices and alternatives

Other memory sizes of the same machine first, then machines and GPUs people weigh against it, each with the one reason it is worth a look. Speeds on Qwen3.6 35B A3B.

Same chip, 64 GB less memoryMac Studio M1 Ultra (64 GB)Apple · 60.5 GB for models · M1 Ultra

same speed▼ 64 GBno price

Same family Newer machine, 15% slowerMac Studio M4 Max (128 GB)Apple · 124.5 GB for models · M4 Max

▼ 15% speedsame memory$3,499

Newer laptop, 11% slowerMacBook Pro 16" M5 Max (128 GB)Apple · 124.5 GB for models · M5 Max

▼ 11% speedsame memory$5,399

Reads prompts 9× faster, 120 GB for modelsDGX SparkNVIDIA · 120 GB for models · GB10

▲ 9× prompts▼ 29% speed▼ 4.5 GB$3,999

2.0× faster if your models fit in 24 GBRTX 4090NVIDIA · 24 GB VRAM · GPU

▲ 99% speed▼ 100.5 GB$1,599rent $0.34/hr

2.8× faster if your models fit in 32 GBRTX 5090NVIDIA · 32 GB VRAM · GPU

▲ 181% speed▼ 92.5 GB$5,376rent $0.64/hr

Mac Studio M1 Ultra tokens per second by model size

Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (800 GB/s). Grey rows need more than the 124.5 GB available.

9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
88.1tok/s
14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB
58.9tok/s
27–31BQwen3.8 27B · Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
32.1tok/s
35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
75.9tok/s
70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · Q4_K_M · 51.3 GB
12.0tok/s
120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · Q4_K_M · 70.8 GB
74.6tok/s

Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate

Ultra generations: writing vs compute

M1 Ultra → M3 Ultra

Writing speed (tok/s)Compute (TFLOPS FP16)

Writing speed follows memory bandwidth and barely moved: 75.9 to 76.6 tok/s since the M1 Ultra. Compute, which sets how fast prompts are read, grew 1.4×. Indexed to the M1 Ultra; speeds on Qwen3.6 35B A3B, same 128 GB.

All 1228 models on the Mac Studio M1 Ultra

Featured only

Best quant that fits in 124.5 GB, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works

LLM models compatible with Mac Studio M1 Ultra (128 GB) — ranked by Score, recency and Fit
Model	Quant	VRAM	Speed	Context	Fit
Falcon 7B7.2BChat 7.2B·Q4_K_M·117.6 t/s	Q4_K_M	7.3 GB6%	117.6 t/s	—	S94, Runs great
SmolLM 1.7B1.7BChat 1.7B·Q4_K_M·323.7 t/s·2K ctx	Q4_K_M	1.7 GB1%	323.7 t/s	2K	S100, Runs great
Step 3.5 Flash Base Midtrain197.8BChat 197.8B·Q3_K_M·58.7 t/s·131K ctx	Q3_K_M	112.3 GB90%	58.7 t/s	131K	A69, Runs well
Meta Llama 3 8B8.0BChat 8.0B·Q4_K_M·103.9 t/s·8K ctx	Q4_K_M	6.2 GB5%	103.9 t/s	8K	S92, Runs great
Turkish Gemma 9B v0.19.2BChat 9.2B·Q4_K_M·86.7 t/s·8K ctx	Q4_K_M	7.7 GB6%	86.7 t/s	8K	S89, Runs great
Falcon Mamba 7B7.3BChat 7.3B·Q4_K_M·116.7 t/s	Q4_K_M	7.3 GB6%	116.7 t/s	—	S94, Runs great
Mixtral 8x22B v0.1140.6BChat 140.6B·Q4_K_M·18.7 t/s·66K ctx	Q4_K_M	88.4 GB71%	18.7 t/s	66K	B58, Decent
CodeLlama 7B HF6.7BChatCode 6.7B·Q4_K_M·103.3 t/s·16K ctx	Q4_K_M	12.9 GB10%	103.3 t/s	16K	S92, Runs great
Macbert4csc Base Chinese102MChat 102M·BF16·2434.8 t/s·1K ctx	BF16	0.2 GB0%	2434.8 t/s	1K	S100, Runs great
Devstral Small 250523.6BChat 23.6B·Q4_K_M·37.7 t/s·131K ctx	Q4_K_M	17.8 GB14%	37.7 t/s	131K	A74, Runs well
Mellum 4B Base4.0BChatCode 4.0B·Q4_K_M·161.4 t/s·8K ctx	Q4_K_M	5.7 GB5%	161.4 t/s	8K	S97, Runs great
Qwen1.5 110B Chat111.2BChat 111.2B·Q4_K_M·8.3 t/s·33K ctx	Q4_K_M	72.4 GB58%	8.3 t/s	33K	B46, Decent
Mistral 7B Instruct v0.27.2BChat 7.2B·Q4_K_M·114.1 t/s·33K ctx	Q4_K_M	6.8 GB5%	114.1 t/s	33K	S94, Runs great
Phi 3 Medium 128k Instruct14.0BChatCode 14.0B·Q4_K_M·61.5 t/s·131K ctx	Q4_K_M	12.0 GB10%	61.5 t/s	131K	A84, Runs well
Qwen2.5 0.5B494MChatFunctions 494M·Q4_K_M·903.2 t/s·33K ctx	Q4_K_M	0.8 GB1%	903.2 t/s	33K	S100, Runs great

Mac Studio M1 Ultra specs

Specs

Chip: M1 Ultra
CPU cores: 20
GPU cores: 48
Unified memory: 128 GB
For models: 124.5 GB (macOS keeps 3.5 GB)
Memory bandwidth: 800 GB/s
FP16 (dense): 31.2 TFLOPS
Neural Engine: 22 TOPS
Released: 2022-03-18

Mac Studio M1 Ultra FAQ

How much memory is available for AI on the Mac Studio M1 Ultra (128 GB)?

About 124.5 GB of the 128 GB. macOS keeps roughly 3.5 GB for itself and other apps.

What is the largest model the Mac Studio M1 Ultra (128 GB) can run?

NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super 120B A12B BF16 (123.6B) at Q4_K_M uses 74.7 GB, 60% of the available memory, and runs at about 31.6 tok/s.

Can the Mac Studio M1 Ultra (128 GB) run Qwen3.8 27B?

Yes. Qwen3.8 27B fits at Q4_K_M, using 17.9 GB of the 124.5 GB available, and it is the best model that runs well on this machine.

How long does the Mac Studio M1 Ultra (128 GB) take to read a long prompt?

On Qwen3.8 27B, about 36 s for a 4K-token prompt and 4.9 min for a 32K-token document before the first word appears.

Is renting a GPU cheaper than buying the Mac Studio M1 Ultra?

An A100 (80 GB) rents from $1.39/hr.

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