Apple · M4 Max · Laptop
Best AI Models for MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (128 GB)
Runs 27–31B and 120B MoE models well; dense 70B fits but is slow at 8 tok/s.
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | |
| 2 | Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | |
| 3 | Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB | 18.7 tok/s | |
| 4 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 75.8 tok/s | |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 70.5 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | |
| 2 | Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB | 18.7 tok/s | |
| 3 | Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB | 64.2 tok/s | |
| 4 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 75.8 tok/s | |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 70.5 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | |
| 2 | Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | |
| 3 | Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB | 18.7 tok/s | |
| 4 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 75.8 tok/s | |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 70.5 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | |
| 2 | Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | |
| 3 | Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB | 64.2 tok/s | |
| 4 | Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 21.7 GB | 18.7 tok/s | overall |
| 5 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 70.5 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed ↓ | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT OSS 20BOpenAIHow to run → Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB | 86.4 tok/s | |
| 2 | Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB | 75.8 tok/s | |
| 3 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 70.5 tok/s | |
| 4 | Qwen3 30B A3B Thinking 2507Alibaba Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB | 66.8 tok/s | |
| 5 | Qwen3 30B A3B Instruct 2507Alibaba Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB | 66.8 tok/s |
| # | Model | Speed | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GPT OSS 120BOpenAIHow to run → Q4_K_M · 70.8 GB | 61.4 tok/s | |
| 2 | Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | overall |
| 3 | Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB | 21.9 tok/s | overall |
| 4 | Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB | 70.5 tok/s | |
| 5 | GLM 4.7 FlashZ.ai Q4_K_M · 19.9 GB | 58.6 tok/s |
The MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max is a mid-range 128 GB laptop: it runs 27–31B and 120B MoE models well. Among 128 GB machines, only the M1 Ultra, M2 Ultra and M5 Max write faster. macOS keeps about 3.5 GB, leaving 124.5 GB for models. Prompt reading is its weak spot: a 4K-token prompt waits 33 s before the first word on Qwen3.8 27B. M4 Max generation, released 2024; the newer M5 Max writes 6% faster with 2.0× the compute.
MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Runs 120B MoE models: GPT OSS 120B at 61.4 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 on large dense models: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct at 8.2 tok/s
- Slow prompt reading: A 32K-token prompt on Qwen3.8 27B waits 4.4 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 GBEverything on the size ladder fits. Two 27B-class models together use 35.7 GB and leave 88.8 GB free.
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.
Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (546 GB/s). Grey rows need more than the 124.5 GB available.
- 9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB60.1tok/s
- 14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB40.2tok/s
- 27–31BQwen3.8 27B · Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB21.9tok/s
- 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB64.2tok/s
- 8.2tok/s
- 120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · Q4_K_M · 70.8 GB61.4tok/s
Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate
Max generations: writing vs compute
M1 Max → M5 MaxWriting speed follows memory bandwidth and barely moved: 54.5 to 67.8 tok/s since the M1 Max. Compute, which sets how fast prompts are read, grew 3.3×. Indexed to the M1 Max; speeds on Qwen3.6 35B A3B, same 64 GB.
All 1228 models on the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max
Featured onlyBest quant that fits in 124.5 GB, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works
| Model | Quant | VRAM | Speed | Context | Score | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
StarcoderChatCode | Q4_K_M | 13.6 GB | 36.6 t/s | — | A73, Runs well | |
Gemma 1.1 2B ITChat | Q4_K_M | 3.5 GB | 231.6 t/s | — | S100, Runs great | |
| Q4_K_M | 5.0 GB | 82.7 t/s | 4K | S88, Runs great | ||
Qwen2.5 3BChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 2.8 GB | 171.4 t/s | 33K | S98, Runs great | |
BioMistral 7BChat | Q4_K_M | 6.7 GB | 80.1 t/s | 33K | S88, Runs great | |
Qwen 1 8BChat | Q4_K_M | 1.9 GB | 315.9 t/s | 8K | S100, Runs great | |
Codegemma 2BChatCode | Q4_K_M | 3.5 GB | 231.6 t/s | — | S100, Runs great | |
SmolLM2 1.7BChat | Q4_K_M | 2.9 GB | 220.9 t/s | 8K | S100, Runs great | |
| Q4_K_M | 49.3 GB | 8.6 t/s | 33K | B46, Decent | ||
| BF16 | 7.6 GB | 66.5 t/s | — | S85, Runs great | ||
Baichuan 7BChat | Q4_K_M | 5.0 GB | 82.7 t/s | 4K | S88, Runs great | |
Qwen2 VL 72B InstructVision | Q4_K_M | 49.7 GB | 8.5 t/s | 33K | B46, Decent | |
| Q4_K_M | 11.0 GB | 47.4 t/s | 131K | A79, Runs well | ||
Qwen3 14B BaseChat | Q4_K_M | 11.8 GB | 40.2 t/s | 33K | A75, Runs well | |
GLM 4.7ChatFunctions | IQ2_M | 123.8 GB | 20.0 t/s | 203K | C30, Usable |
Specs
- Chip
- M4 Max
- CPU cores
- 16
- GPU cores
- 40
- Unified memory
- 128 GB
- For models
- 124.5 GB (macOS keeps 3.5 GB)
- Memory bandwidth
- 546 GB/s
- FP16 (dense)
- 34.4 TFLOPS
- Neural Engine
- 38 TOPS
- Released
- 2024-11-08
MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max FAQ
How much memory is available for AI on the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (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 MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (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 26.2 tok/s.
Can the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (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.
Can the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (128 GB) run 70B models?
Yes, but slowly: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct at Q4_K_M uses 51.3 GB and writes about 8.2 tok/s.
How long does the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (128 GB) take to read a long prompt?
On Qwen3.8 27B, about 33 s for a 4K-token prompt and 4.4 min for a 32K-token document before the first word appears.
Is renting a GPU cheaper than buying the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max?
An A100 (80 GB) rents from $1.06/hr.