Apple · M5 · Laptop
Best AI Models for MacBook Air 15" M5 (32 GB)
Runs 9B and 35B MoE models well; 14B and 27–31B fit but are slow (11 and 6 tok/s), and 70B doesn't fit in 28.5 GB.
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB | 28.6 tok/s | |
| 2 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 31.7 tok/s | |
| 3 | Qwen3 30B A3B Thinking 2507Alibaba Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB | 34.8 tok/s | |
| 4 | GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB | 34.6 tok/s | |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 41.9 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB | 28.6 tok/s | |
| 2 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 31.7 tok/s | |
| 3 | GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB | 34.6 tok/s | |
| 4 | Q4_K_M · 7.9 GB | 20.3 tok/s | |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 41.9 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB | 28.6 tok/s | |
| 2 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 31.7 tok/s | |
| 3 | Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB | 16.9 tok/s | |
| 4 | GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB | 34.6 tok/s | |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 41.9 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 31.7 tok/s | |
| 2 | Qwen3 30B A3B Thinking 2507Alibaba Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB | 34.8 tok/s | |
| 3 | Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB | 16.9 tok/s | |
| 4 | GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB | 34.6 tok/s | |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 41.9 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed ↓ | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB | 34.8 tok/s | |
| 2 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 41.9 tok/s | |
| 3 | Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507Alibaba Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB | 34.8 tok/s | |
| 4 | GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB | 34.6 tok/s | |
| 5 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 31.7 tok/s |
The MacBook Air 15" M5 is a 32 GB laptop with more memory than speed: it runs 9B and 35B MoE models well. macOS keeps about 3.5 GB, leaving 28.5 GB for models. Prompt reading is its weak spot: a 4K-token prompt waits 12 s before the first word on Qwen3.6 35B A3B. M5 generation, released 2026.
MacBook Air 15" M5 strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Runs 35B MoE models: Qwen3.6 35B A3B at 28.6 tok/s in 22 GB
Weaknesses
- 70B models don't fit: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4 vs 28.5 GB usable here
- Slow on large dense models: Qwen3.8 27B at 6.2 tok/s
- Slow prompt reading: A 32K-token prompt on Qwen3.6 35B A3B waits 1.6 min for the first token
- No CUDA: vLLM, AWQ, GPTQ and FP8 builds don't run; use GGUF or MLX
Memory for models
28.5 GB of 32 GB70B models need 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 28.5 GB available.
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 Qwen3.5 9B.
Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (154 GB/s). Grey rows need more than the 28.5 GB available.
- 9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB16.9tok/s
- 14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB11.3tok/s
- 6.2tok/s
- 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB28.6tok/s
- 70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · does not fitneeds 51.3 GB
- 120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · does not fitneeds 70.8 GB
Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate
Chip generations: writing vs compute
M1 → M5Writing speed follows memory bandwidth and barely moved: 7.5 to 16.9 tok/s since the M1. Compute, which sets how fast prompts are read, grew 3.1×. Indexed to the M1; speeds on Qwen3.5 9B, same 16 GB.
All 311 models on the MacBook Air 15" M5
Featured onlyBest quant that fits in 28.5 GB, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works
| Model | Quant | VRAM | Speed | Context | Score | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Qwen3.8 27BVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 17.9 GB | 6.2 t/s | 262K | C43, Usable | |
Qwen3.6 35B A3BVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 22.0 GB | 28.6 t/s | 262K | A69, Runs well | |
Gemma 4 26B A4B ITVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 16.5 GB | 31.7 t/s | 262K | A71, Runs well | |
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16ChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 19.3 GB | 41.9 t/s | 262K | A76, Runs well | |
Muse Glimmer 30BVision | Q4_K_M | 19.6 GB | 5.9 t/s | 131K | C43, Usable | |
Gemma 4 31B ITVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 21.7 GB | 5.3 t/s | 262K | C42, Usable | |
GLM 4.7 FlashChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 19.9 GB | 27.3 t/s | 203K | A68, Runs well | |
JEV 27B VLVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 17.9 GB | 6.2 t/s | 262K | C43, Usable | |
GPT OSS 20BChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 13.1 GB | 34.6 t/s | 131K | A73, Runs well | |
Ornith 1.5 35B A3BChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 22.0 GB | 28.6 t/s | 262K | A69, Runs well | |
Ling 3.0 TinyChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 5.5 GB | 74.1 t/s | 131K | S86, Runs great | |
MiniCPM5 2BChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 2.5 GB | 56.6 t/s | 131K | A82, Runs well | |
Ornith 1.0 35BChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 21.5 GB | 33.1 t/s | 262K | A72, Runs well | |
Qwen3.6 27BVisionFunctions | Q4_K_M | 17.9 GB | 6.2 t/s | 262K | C43, Usable | |
LFM2.5 8B A1BChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 5.6 GB | 66.9 t/s | 128K | S85, Runs great |
Specs
- Chip
- M5
- CPU cores
- 10
- GPU cores
- 10
- Unified memory
- 32 GB
- For models
- 28.5 GB (macOS keeps 3.5 GB)
- Memory bandwidth
- 153.6 GB/s
- FP16 (dense)
- 16 TFLOPS
- Neural Engine
- 38 TOPS
- Released
- 2026-03-11
MacBook Air 15" M5 FAQ
How much memory is available for AI on the MacBook Air 15" M5 (32 GB)?
About 28.5 GB of the 32 GB. macOS keeps roughly 3.5 GB for itself and other apps.
What is the largest model the MacBook Air 15" M5 (32 GB) can run?
Qwen3.6 35B A3B (36.0B) at Q4_K_M uses 22.0 GB, 77% of the available memory, and runs at about 28.6 tok/s.
Can the MacBook Air 15" M5 (32 GB) run 70B models?
No. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 28.5 GB available.
How long does the MacBook Air 15" M5 (32 GB) take to read a long prompt?
On Qwen3.6 35B A3B, about 12 s for a 4K-token prompt and 1.6 min for a 32K-token document before the first word appears.
Is renting a GPU cheaper than buying the MacBook Air 15" M5?
An RTX A6000 (48 GB) rents from $0.33/hr.