Apple · M3 · Laptop

Best AI Models for MacBook Pro 14" M3 (24 GB)

Runs 27–31B models at 4 tok/s; 9B and 14B fit but are slow (11 and 8 tok/s), and 70B doesn't fit in 20.5 GB.

24 GB unified20.5 GB for models102.4 GB/s7 TFLOPS FP162023

Memory

Same chip in

MacBook Pro 14"MacBook Air 13"iMac 24"MacBook Air 15"

Top models by task

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogleHow to run → Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	22.6 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
2	Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB	11.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
3	GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB	24.4 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
4	Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB	25.2 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB
5	Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB	22.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB

#	Model	Speed	Coding Score	Quant · Memory
1	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogleHow to run → Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	22.6 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
2	GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB	24.4 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
3	Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB	25.2 tok/s	overall	Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB
4	Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB	22.0 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
5	Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB	56.1 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	GPT OSS 20BOpenAIHow to run → Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB	24.4 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
2	Llama 3.2 1B InstructMeta Q4_K_M · 2.3 GB	87.4 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 2.3 GB
3	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	22.6 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
4	Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB	22.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
5	Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB	56.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB

#	Model	Speed ↓	Quant · Memory
1	GPT OSS 20BOpenAIHow to run → Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB	24.4 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
2	Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB	56.1 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB
3	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	22.6 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
4	Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB	22.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
5	Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB	20.9 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogleHow to run → Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB	22.6 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
2	Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB	25.2 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB
3	Qwen3.5 9BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB	11.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
4	Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB	22.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
5	Cosmos Reason2 2BNVIDIA Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB	44.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB

See all 293 models on the MacBook Pro 14" M3 →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 MacBook Pro 14" M3 (24 GB)

The MacBook Pro 14" M3 is a 24 GB laptop with more memory than speed: it runs 27–31B models at 4 tok/s. macOS keeps about 3.5 GB, leaving 20.5 GB for models. Prompt reading is its weak spot: a 4K-token prompt waits 26 s before the first word on Gemma 4 26B A4B IT. M3 generation, released 2023; the newer M4 writes 14% faster with 1.2× the compute.

Speed in 24 GB#5102 GB/s

Prompt reading#57 TFLOPS

For models20.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GB

ChipM3released 2023

MacBook Pro 14" M3 strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Runs 35B MoE models: Qwen3.6 35B A3B at 22.6 tok/s in 19.8 GB

Weaknesses

70B models don't fit: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4 vs 20.5 GB usable here
Slow on large dense models: Qwen3.8 27B at 4.1 tok/s
Slow prompt reading: A 32K-token prompt on Gemma 4 26B A4B IT waits 3.4 min for the first token
No CUDA: vLLM, AWQ, GPTQ and FP8 builds don't run; use GGUF or MLX

Memory for models

20.5 GB of 24 GB

9B6.6 GB14B11.9 GB27–31B17.9 GB35B MoE19.8 GB

9B6.6 GB14B11.9 GB35B MoE19.8 GB

For models 20.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GBModel size at Q4

70B models need 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 20.5 GB available.

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, 8 GB less memoryMacBook Pro 14" M3 (16 GB)Apple · 12.5 GB for models · M3

▲ 50% speed▼ 8 GBno price

Same family 105% faster, same memoryMac Mini M4 Pro (24 GB)Apple · 20.5 GB for models · M4 Pro

▲ 105% speedsame memory$1,599

14% faster, same memoryMacBook Air 13" M4 (24 GB)Apple · 20.5 GB for models · M4

▲ 14% speedsame memory$1,399

27% faster, 3.5 GB more memoryMacBook Pro 14 M5Apple · 24 GB for models · M5

▲ 27% speed▲ 3.5 GB$1,839

Reads prompts 4× faster, 32.5 GB for modelsMac Studio M4 Max (36 GB)Apple · 32.5 GB for models · M4 Max

▲ 4× prompts▲ 144% speed▲ 12 GB$2,499

Reads prompts 53× faster, 24 GB for modelsRTX 4090NVIDIA · 24 GB VRAM · GPU

▲ 53× prompts▲ 568% speed▲ 3.5 GB$1,599rent $0.34/hr

MacBook Pro 14" M3 tokens per second by model size

Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (102 GB/s). Grey rows need more than the 20.5 GB available.

9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
11.3tok/s
14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB slow
7.5tok/s
27–31BQwen3.8 27B · Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB slow
4.1tok/s
35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · IQ4_XS · 19.8 GB tight · IQ4_XS
22.6tok/s
70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · does not fit
needs 51.3 GB
120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · does not fit
needs 70.8 GB

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

Chip generations: writing vs compute

M1 → M5

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

Writing speed follows memory bandwidth and barely moved: 24.9 to 31.1 tok/s since the M1. Compute, which sets how fast prompts are read, grew 3.1×. Indexed to the M1; speeds on Qwen3.6 35B A3B, same 16 GB.

All 1068 models on the MacBook Pro 14" M3

Featured only

Best quant that fits in 20.5 GB, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works

LLM models compatible with MacBook Pro 14" M3 (24 GB) — ranked by Score, recency and Fit
Model	Quant	VRAM	Speed	Context	Fit
Phi 3.5 MoE Instruct41.9BChatCode 41.9B·Q2_K·21.3 t/s·131K ctx	Q2_K	20.2 GB99%	21.3 t/s	131K	C32, Usable
RedPajama INCITE 7B Base7BChat 7B·Q4_K_M·15.5 t/s·2K ctx	Q4_K_M	4.6 GB23%	15.5 t/s	2K	B55, Decent
Meta Llama 3 8B Instruct8.0BChat 8.0B·Q4_K_M·13.3 t/s·8K ctx	Q4_K_M	6.2 GB30%	13.3 t/s	8K	B53, Decent
Baichuan2 13B Base13BChat 13B·Q4_K_M·8.4 t/s	Q4_K_M	11.5 GB56%	8.4 t/s	—	B46, Decent
Qwen2.5 Coder 0.5B494MChatCode 494M·Q4_K_M·115.6 t/s·33K ctx	Q4_K_M	0.8 GB4%	115.6 t/s	33K	S94, Runs great
Qwen1.5 7B7.7BChat 7.7B·Q4_K_M·11.9 t/s·33K ctx	Q4_K_M	13.5 GB66%	11.9 t/s	33K	B51, Decent
Kai 30B Instruct32.8BChatMathReasoningCode 32.8B·Q2_K·4.9 t/s·33K ctx	Q2_K	18.5 GB90%	4.9 t/s	33K	D28, Barely runs
Llama 2 7B HF6.7BChat 6.7B·Q4_K_M·13.2 t/s·4K ctx	Q4_K_M	6.5 GB32%	13.2 t/s	4K	B52, Decent
Baichuan 13B Base13BChat 13B·Q4_K_M·8.4 t/s	Q4_K_M	11.5 GB56%	8.4 t/s	—	B46, Decent
Qwen3 Omni 30B A3B Thinking31.7BChat 31.7B·Q2_K·25.5 t/s	Q2_K	18.6 GB91%	25.5 t/s	—	B50, Decent
Codegemma 7B IT8.5BChatCode 8.5B·Q4_K_M·12.7 t/s	Q4_K_M	8.2 GB40%	12.7 t/s	—	B51, Decent
Deepseek Llm 7B Base7BChat 7B·Q4_K_M·13.0 t/s·4K ctx	Q4_K_M	6.5 GB32%	13.0 t/s	4K	B52, Decent
Nemotron H 8B Base 8K8.1BChat 8.1B·BF16·4.0 t/s	BF16	20.4 GB100%	4.0 t/s	—	F9, Won't fit
Hermes 2 Pro Llama 3 8B8.0BChat 8.0B·Q4_K_M·13.3 t/s·8K ctx	Q4_K_M	6.2 GB30%	13.3 t/s	8K	B53, Decent
Qwen2.5 Coder 1.5B1.5BChatCodeFunctions 1.5B·Q4_K_M·56.0 t/s·33K ctx	Q4_K_M	1.7 GB8%	56.0 t/s	33K	A82, Runs well

MacBook Pro 14" M3 specs

Specs

Chip: M3
CPU cores: 8
GPU cores: 10
Unified memory: 24 GB
For models: 20.5 GB (macOS keeps 3.5 GB)
Memory bandwidth: 102.4 GB/s
FP16 (dense): 7 TFLOPS
Neural Engine: 18 TOPS
Released: 2023-11-07

MacBook Pro 14" M3 FAQ

How much memory is available for AI on the MacBook Pro 14" M3 (24 GB)?

About 20.5 GB of the 24 GB. macOS keeps roughly 3.5 GB for itself and other apps.

What is the largest model the MacBook Pro 14" M3 (24 GB) can run?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B (36.0B) at IQ4_XS uses 19.8 GB, 97% of the available memory, and runs at about 22.6 tok/s.

Can the MacBook Pro 14" M3 (24 GB) run 70B models?

No. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 20.5 GB available.

How long does the MacBook Pro 14" M3 (24 GB) take to read a long prompt?

On Gemma 4 26B A4B IT, about 26 s for a 4K-token prompt and 3.4 min for a 32K-token document before the first word appears.

Is renting a GPU cheaper than buying the MacBook Pro 14" M3?

An RTX 3090 (24 GB) rents from $0.16/hr.

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