llmrun

Apple · M4 · Laptop

Best AI Models for MacBook Pro 14" M4 (32 GB)

Runs 35B MoE models well; 9B, 14B and 27–31B fit but are slow (13, 9 and 5 tok/s), and 70B doesn't fit in 28.5 GB.

32 GB unified28.5 GB for models120 GB/s9 TFLOPS FP162024
Memory
16 GBabout $1,59924 GB32 GB
Same chip in
MacBook Pro 14"Mac Miniabout $999MacBook Air 13"MacBook Air 15"iMac 24"iPad Pro 13"

Top models by task

#ModelSpeedCoding ScoreQuant · Memory
1
Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibabaHow to run →
Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
23.5 tok/sQ4_K_M · 22.0 GB
2
Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle
Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
25.8 tok/sQ4_K_M · 16.5 GB
3
GPT OSS 20BOpenAI
Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
28.1 tok/sQ4_K_M · 13.1 GB
4
Llama 3.1 8B InstructMeta
Q4_K_M · 7.9 GB
15.8 tok/sQ4_K_M · 7.9 GB
5
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA
Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB
36.2 tok/sQ4_K_M · 19.3 GB
See all 311 models on the MacBook Pro 14" M4 →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" M4 (32 GB)

The MacBook Pro 14" M4 is a 32 GB laptop with more memory than speed: it runs 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 23 s before the first word on Qwen3.6 35B A3B. M4 generation, released 2024; the newer M5 writes 28% faster with 1.9× the compute.

Speed in 32 GB#9120 GB/s
Prompt reading#109 TFLOPS
For models28.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GB
ChipM4released 2024

MacBook Pro 14" M4 strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

  • Runs 35B MoE models: Qwen3.6 35B A3B at 23.5 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 4.8 tok/s
  • Slow prompt reading: A 32K-token prompt on Qwen3.6 35B A3B waits 3.0 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 GB
9B6.6 GB14B11.9 GB27–31B17.9 GB35B MoE22 GB
9B6.6 GB14B11.9 GB35B MoE22 GB
For models 28.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GBModel size at Q4

70B models need 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 28.5 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 Qwen3.5 9B.

Same chip, 8 GB less memoryMacBook Pro 14" M4 (24 GB)Apple · 20.5 GB for models · M4
same speed▼ 8 GBno price
Same familySame chip, 16 GB less memoryMacBook Pro 14" M4 (16 GB)Apple · 12.5 GB for models · M4
same speed▼ 16 GBabout $1,599
Same family242% faster, 4 GB more memoryMac Studio M4 Max (36 GB)Apple · 32.5 GB for models · M4 Max
▲ 242% speed▲ 4 GBabout $2,499
28% faster, 4.5 GB less memoryMacBook Pro 14 M5Apple · 24 GB for models · M5
▲ 28% speed▼ 4.5 GBabout $1,839
Reads prompts 4× faster, 48 GB for modelsMacBook Pro 14 M5 ProApple · 48 GB for models · M5 Pro
▲ 4× prompts▲ 156% speed▲ 19.5 GBabout $2,299
Reads prompts 43× faster, 24 GB for modelsRTX 4090NVIDIA · 24 GB VRAM · GPU
▲ 43× prompts▲ 680% speed▼ 4.5 GBabout $1,599rent $0.34/hr

MacBook Pro 14" M4 tokens per second by model size

Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (120 GB/s). Grey rows need more than the 28.5 GB available.

  1. 9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
    13.2tok/s
  2. 14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB slow
    8.8tok/s
  3. 27–31BQwen3.8 27B · Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB slow
    4.8tok/s
  4. 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
    23.5tok/s
  5. 70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · does not fit
    needs 51.3 GB
  6. 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)
1×2×3×4×M12021M22023M32023M42024M52025M1 · 5.2 TFLOPS FP16M1 · 7.5 tok/s · 68.3 GB/sM2 · 7.2 TFLOPS FP16M2 · 11.0 tok/s · 100 GB/sM3 · 7 TFLOPS FP16M3 · 11.3 tok/s · 102.4 GB/sM4 · 8.6 TFLOPS FP16M4 · 13.2 tok/s · 120 GB/sM5 · 16 TFLOPS FP16M5 · 16.9 tok/s · 153.6 GB/sCompute 3.1×Writing +125%
1×2×3×4×M12021M22023M32023M42024M52025M1 · 5.2 TFLOPS FP16M1 · 7.5 tok/s · 68.3 GB/sM2 · 7.2 TFLOPS FP16M2 · 11.0 tok/s · 100 GB/sM3 · 7 TFLOPS FP16M3 · 11.3 tok/s · 102.4 GB/sM4 · 8.6 TFLOPS FP16M4 · 13.2 tok/s · 120 GB/sM5 · 16 TFLOPS FP16M5 · 16.9 tok/s · 153.6 GB/sCompute 3.1×Writing +125%

Writing 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 Pro 14" M4

Featured only

Best quant that fits in 28.5 GB, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works

LLM models compatible with MacBook Pro 14" M4 (32 GB) — ranked by Score, recency and Fit
ModelVRAMScoreFit
Qwen3.8 27B
27.8B·Q4_K_M·4.8 t/s·262K ctx
17.9 GBC42, Usable
Qwen3.6 35B A3B
36.0B·Q4_K_M·23.5 t/s·262K ctx
22.0 GBB64, Decent
Gemma 4 26B A4B IT
25.8B·Q4_K_M·25.8 t/s·262K ctx
16.5 GBA66, Runs well
NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16
31.6B·Q4_K_M·36.2 t/s·262K ctx
19.3 GBA73, Runs well
Muse Glimmer 30B
29.8B·Q4_K_M·4.6 t/s·131K ctx
19.6 GBC41, Usable
Gemma 4 31B IT
31.3B·Q4_K_M·4.1 t/s·262K ctx
21.7 GBC40, Usable
GLM 4.7 Flash
31.2B·Q4_K_M·22.6 t/s·203K ctx
19.9 GBB63, Decent
Ornith 1.0 35B
35.1B·Q4_K_M·27.5 t/s·262K ctx
21.5 GBA68, Runs well
Qwen3.5 9B
9.7B·Q4_K_M·13.2 t/s·262K ctx
6.6 GBB52, Decent
JEV 27B VL
27.8B·Q4_K_M·4.8 t/s·262K ctx
17.9 GBC42, Usable
GPT OSS 20B
20.9B·Q4_K_M·28.1 t/s·131K ctx
13.1 GBA69, Runs well
Qwen3.5 4B
4.7B·Q4_K_M·25.8 t/s·262K ctx
3.4 GBA66, Runs well
Ling 3.0 Tiny
7.9B·Q4_K_M·62.8 t/s·131K ctx
5.5 GBA84, Runs well
Ornith 1.5 35B A3B
36.0B·Q4_K_M·23.5 t/s·262K ctx
22.0 GBB64, Decent
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct
30.5B·Q4_K_M·29.3 t/s·262K ctx
19.4 GBA70, Runs well

MacBook Pro 14" M4 specs

Specs

Chip
M4
CPU cores
10
GPU cores
10
Unified memory
32 GB
For models
28.5 GB (macOS keeps 3.5 GB)
Memory bandwidth
120 GB/s
FP16 (dense)
8.6 TFLOPS
Neural Engine
38 TOPS
Released
2024-11-08

MacBook Pro 14" M4 FAQ

How much memory is available for AI on the MacBook Pro 14" M4 (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 Pro 14" M4 (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 23.5 tok/s.

Can the MacBook Pro 14" M4 (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 Pro 14" M4 (32 GB) take to read a long prompt?

On Qwen3.6 35B A3B, about 23 s for a 4K-token prompt and 3.0 min for a 32K-token document before the first word appears.

Is renting a GPU cheaper than buying the MacBook Pro 14" M4?

An RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell (32 GB) rents from $0.34/hr.

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