Apple · M4 Max · Laptop

Best AI Models for MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB)

Runs 27–35B models well; 70B doesn't fit in 32.5 GB.

36 GB unified32.5 GB for models409.6 GB/s26 TFLOPS FP162024

Buy$3,199

Memory

36 GB$3,199 48 GB64 GB128 GB

Same chip in

MacBook Pro 14"$3,199 Mac Studio$2,499 MacBook Pro 16"

What LLMs can the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max run?

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 16.5 t/s	16.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 16.5 t/s	16.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB · 64.2 t/s	64.2 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
4	GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB · 72.3 t/s	72.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB · 64.8 t/s	64.8 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 16.5 t/s	16.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB · 55.2 t/s	55.2 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
3	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB · 64.2 t/s	64.2 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
4	GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB · 72.3 t/s	72.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB · 64.8 t/s	64.8 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB

#	Model	Speed	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.8 27BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 16.5 t/s	16.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Qwen3.5 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 16.5 t/s	16.5 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB · 64.2 t/s	64.2 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
4	GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB · 72.3 t/s	72.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB · 64.8 t/s	64.8 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 · 16.5 t/s	16.5 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
2	Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB · 16.5 t/s	16.5 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
3	Qwen3.6 35B A3BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB · 55.2 t/s	55.2 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
4	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB · 64.2 t/s	64.2 tok/s	overall	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
5	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB · 64.8 t/s	64.8 tok/s		Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB

#	Model	Speed ↓	Quant · Memory
1	Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 88.0 t/s	88.0 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB
2	GPT OSS 20BOpenAI Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB · 72.3 t/s	72.3 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 13.1 GB
3	NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B A3B BF16NVIDIA Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB · 64.8 t/s	64.8 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.3 GB
4	Gemma 4 26B A4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB · 64.2 t/s	64.2 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB
5	Qwen3 30B A3B Thinking 2507Alibaba Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB · 59.6 t/s	59.6 tok/s	Q4_K_M · 19.4 GB

See all 346 models on the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max →Bars = traction for models without a Score yet

About the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB)

The MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max is one of the fastest 36 GB machines: it runs 27–35B models well. Among 36 GB machines, only the M5 Max write faster. macOS keeps about 3.5 GB, leaving 32.5 GB for models. With 26 TFLOPS it reads long prompts faster than most 36 GB machines: a 4K-token prompt takes 44 s. At its $3,199 MSRP it gives 17.3 tok/s per $1,000, 5th of the 6 machines compared here. M4 Max generation, released 2024; the newer M5 Max writes 7% faster with 2.1× the compute.

Speed in 36 GB#2410 GB/s

Prompt reading#226 TFLOPS

For models32.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GB

ChipM4 Maxreleased 2024

MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Runs 35B MoE models: Qwen3.6 35B A3B at 55.2 tok/s in 22 GB
Room for long context: Qwen3.8 27B at Q4 uses 17.9 GB, leaving 14.6 GB free

Weaknesses

70B models don't fit: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4 vs 32.5 GB usable here
Slow prompt reading: A 32K-token prompt on Qwen3.8 27B waits 5.9 min for the first token
No CUDA: vLLM, AWQ, GPTQ and FP8 builds don't run; use GGUF or MLX

Memory for models

32.5 GB of 36 GB

9B6.6 GB14B11.9 GB27–31B17.9 GB35B MoE22 GB

14B11.9 GB35B MoE22 GB

For models 32.5 GBmacOS keeps 3.5 GBModel size at Q4

70B models need 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 32.5 GB available. The 48 GB config fits Gemma 4 31B IT →Or rent an H100 (80 GB) from $2.20/hr →

Speed per dollar and per watt

NewUsed

On Qwen3.6 35B A3B (35B params, 3B active) at Q4_K_M. New means a shop price, either a street quote or the maker's own price; used is compared with used. The last two columns are the speed you get per $1,000 of price and per 100 W of power; higher is better. The MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max has no current new price, so it is shown at its MSRP.

Machine	New price	tok/s	tok/s per $1,000	tok/s per 100 W
RTX 509032 GB	about $5,376	213	39.7	37.1
Mac Mini M432 GB	about $999	23.5	23.5	36.2
Mac Studio M4 Max36 GB	about $2,499	55.2	22.1	38.1
Mac Mini M4 Pro48 GB	about $2,199	43.2	19.6	30.9
MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max36 GB	about $3,199	55.2	17.3	–
MacBook Pro 14 M532 GB	about $1,839	28.6	15.6	–

Machine	Used price	tok/s	tok/s per $1,000	tok/s per 100 W
RTX 509032 GB	about $6,400	213	33.3	37.1
Mac Studio M4 Max36 GB	about $2,000	55.2	27.6	38.1

Cost per token: the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max against 32–48 GB machines and GPUs

On Qwen3.6 35B A3B (35B params, 3B active, Q4_K_M, 4K context). Speed, cost per token and power per token depend on the model.

NewUsed

Speed$ per 1M tokens

24–36 GB48–64 GBthis laptopat MSRP

Cost per 1M output tokenson Qwen3.6 35B A3B · card over 3 years + power

$3.68

Machine, MSRP: $3.68
Power: not published

3-year cost of ownership$3,199

Or rent an A100 in the cloud$0.40/hr

Renting costs as much as buying after ≈7,900 hours (≈5.4 years at 4 h a day).

Power$/kWhUseh/dayKeepyears

Each dot is a machine or GPU; hover or tap it for its numbers, click to open it. Machines without a price for the chosen basis are left out. Machines without a published power figure are left out of Per watt and costed without power. How we calculate cost per token

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, 12 GB more memoryMacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (48 GB)Apple · 44.5 GB for models · M4 Max

▲ 16% speed▲ 12 GBno price

Same family Same chip, 28 GB more memoryMacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (64 GB)Apple · 60.5 GB for models · M4 Max

▲ 16% speed▲ 28 GBno price

Same family Machine, 57% slowerMac Mini M4 (32 GB)Apple · 28.5 GB for models · M4

▼ 57% speed▼ 4 GB$999

Newer laptop, 48% slowerMacBook Pro 14 M5Apple · 28.5 GB for models · M5

▼ 48% speed▼ 4 GB$1,839

Machine, 22% slowerMac Mini M4 Pro (48 GB)Apple · 44.5 GB for models · M4 Pro

▼ 22% speed▲ 12 GB$2,199

Reads prompts 18× faster, 32 GB for modelsRTX 5090NVIDIA · 32 GB VRAM · GPU

▲ 18× prompts▲ 286% speedsame memory$5,376rent $0.50/hr

MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max tokens per second by model size

Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (410 GB/s). Grey rows need more than the 32.5 GB available.

9BQwen3.5 9B · Q4_K_M · 6.6 GB
45.1tok/s
14BQwen3 14B · Q4_K_M · 11.9 GB
30.2tok/s
27–31BQwen3.8 27B · Q4_K_M · 17.9 GB
16.5tok/s
35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · Q4_K_M · 22.0 GB
55.2tok/s
70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · not at 4-bit
needs 51.3 GB
120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · not at 4-bit
needs 70.8 GB

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

Max generations: writing vs compute

M1 Max → M5 Max

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

Writing speed follows memory bandwidth and barely moved: 54.5 to 58.8 tok/s since the M1 Max. Compute, which sets how fast prompts are read, grew 3.5×. Indexed to the M1 Max; speeds on Qwen3.6 35B A3B, same 32 GB.

All 1176 models on the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max

Featured only

Best quant that fits in 32.5 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 Max (36 GB) — ranked by Score, recency and Fit
Model	Quant	VRAM	Speed	Context	Fit
Ternary Bonsai 8B Unpacked8.2BChatFunctions Q4_K_M·51.9 t/s	Q4_K_M	7.6 GB23%	51.9 t/s	66K	A81, Runs well
Qwen3 0.6B752MChatFunctions Q4_K_M·329.6 t/s	Q4_K_M	1.7 GB5%	329.6 t/s	41K	S100, Runs great
Hy MT2 7B8.0BTranslation Q4_K_M·53.2 t/s	Q4_K_M	7.3 GB22%	53.2 t/s	262K	A81, Runs well
Gemma4 E4b Claims Comparison7.9BChatFunctions Q4_K_M·54.3 t/s	Q4_K_M	5.5 GB17%	54.3 t/s	131K	A81, Runs well
Tiny Random OPTForCausalLM812404Chat BF16·28672.0 t/s	BF16	0.0 GB0%	28672.0 t/s	0K	S100, Runs great
DeepSeek OCR3.3BVision Q4_K_M·188.7 t/s	Q4_K_M	2.8 GB9%	188.7 t/s	8K	S99, Runs great
Qwen3.6 27B MTPLX Optimized Speed4.7BChat Q4_K_M·80.8 t/s	Q4_K_M	4 GB12%	80.8 t/s	262K	S88, Runs great
Huihui Qwen3.8 27B Abliterated27.8BVisionFunctions Q4_K_M·16.5 t/s	Q4_K_M	17.9 GB55%	16.5 t/s	262K	B56, Decent
Agnes 3.0 Flash33.1BVisionReasoningFunctions Q4_K_M·13.9 t/s	Q4_K_M	24.2 GB74%	13.9 t/s	262K	B53, Decent
EXAONE 4.5 33B34.4BVisionFunctions Q4_K_M·13.4 t/s	Q4_K_M	25.2 GB78%	13.4 t/s	262K	B53, Decent
Qwen3.5 4B PTBR4BChat Q4_K_M·108.6 t/s	Q4_K_M	4.8 GB15%	108.6 t/s	—	S93, Runs great
The GuageLLM 23M23MChat Q4_K_M·14336.0 t/s	Q4_K_M	0.0 GB0%	14336.0 t/s	0K	S100, Runs great
LLaDA2.0 Mini16.3BChatFunctions Q4_K_M·140.5 t/s	Q4_K_M	10.7 GB33%	140.5 t/s	33K	S96, Runs great
Gemma 4 31B IT Uncensored32.7BChat Q4_K_M·13.5 t/s	Q4_K_M	22.6 GB69%	13.5 t/s	262K	B53, Decent
Chandra Ocr 25.3BVisionFunctions Q4_K_M·78.6 t/s	Q4_K_M	3.8 GB12%	78.6 t/s	262K	S87, Runs great

MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max specs

Specs

Chip: M4 Max
CPU cores: 14
GPU cores: 32
Unified memory: 36 GB
For models: 32.5 GB (macOS keeps 3.5 GB)
Memory bandwidth: 409.6 GB/s
FP16 (dense): 25.8 TFLOPS
Neural Engine: 38 TOPS
Released: 2024-11-08
MSRP: $3,199

MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max FAQ

Is the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB) worth it for local LLMs in 2026?

At its $3,199 MSRP it gives 17.3 tok/s per $1,000 on Qwen3.6 35B A3B, 5th of the 6 machines compared here. It runs 27–35B models well; 70B doesn't fit in 32.5 GB.

How much memory is available for AI on the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB)?

About 32.5 GB of the 36 GB. macOS keeps roughly 3.5 GB for itself and other apps.

What is the largest model the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB) can run?

Qwen3.6 35B A3B (36.0B) is the largest at 4-bit or better: at Q4_K_M it uses 22.0 GB, 68% of the available memory, and runs at about 55.2 tok/s.

Can the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB) run Qwen3.8 27B?

Yes. Qwen3.8 27B fits at Q4_K_M, using 17.9 GB of the 32.5 GB available, and it is the best model that runs well on this machine.

Can the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB) run 70B models?

No. Llama 3.3 70B Instruct needs 51.3 GB at Q4, more than the 32.5 GB available.

How long does the MacBook Pro 14" M4 Max (36 GB) take to read a long prompt?

On Qwen3.8 27B, about 44 s for a 4K-token prompt and 5.9 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 (40 GB) rents from $0.40/hr. Renting costs as much as buying after ≈7,900 hours (≈5.4 years at 4 h a day).

24 GB GPUs All Macs Laptops Mac Studio M5 Max MacBook Pro 14" M5 Max MacBook Pro 16" M5 Max MacBook Pro 14" M3 Max MacBook Pro 16" M4 Max Best coding LLMs All hardware