What is the biggest model the Apple M4 Max can run?

gpt-oss 120B, which needs about 67 GB, on the 128 GB version at about 66 tok/s.

What is the biggest model the Apple M5 Max can run?

gpt-oss 120B, which needs about 67 GB, on the 128 GB version at about 56 tok/s.

Apple M4 Max vs Apple M5 Max for local AI

Q: Which is better for local AI, the Apple M4 Max or the Apple M5 Max?

The Apple M4 Max, for speed. They fit the same models. Both fit the same models we track, up to gpt-oss 120B. The Apple M4 Max generates about 19% faster on any model both can run, because it has 546 GB/s of memory bandwidth to the Apple M5 Max's 460 GB/s.

Both fit the same models we track, up to gpt-oss 120B. The Apple M4 Max generates about 19% faster on any model both can run, because it has 546 GB/s of memory bandwidth to the Apple M5 Max's 460 GB/s.

The numbers that matter

Memory and bandwidth

Memory decides which models fit. Bandwidth decides how fast they generate, because every token reads the model's active weights once.

	Apple M4 Max	Apple M5 Max
Memory	36 or 48 or 64 or 128 GB unified memory	36 or 48 or 64 or 128 GB unified memory
Usable for models	About 96 GB of 128 GB	About 96 GB of 128 GB
Bandwidth	546 GB/s	460 GB/s
Biggest model that fits	gpt-oss 120B	gpt-oss 120B
Best everyday pick	gpt-oss 120B, ~66 tok/s	gpt-oss 120B, ~56 tok/s

Model by model

Every model, side by side

Estimated generation speed at the largest memory size each was sold in (128 GB and 128 GB).

Model	Apple M4 Max	Apple M5 Max
Qwen3 4B About 4 GB	~120 tok/s Runs great	~100 tok/s Runs great
Qwen3 8B About 7 GB	~58 tok/s Runs great	~49 tok/s Runs great
Gemma 3 12B About 10 GB	~37 tok/s Runs great	~31 tok/s Runs great
Qwen3 14B About 11 GB	~32 tok/s Runs great	~27 tok/s Usable
gpt-oss 20B About 16 GB	~96 tok/s Runs great	~81 tok/s Runs great
Gemma 3 27B About 19 GB	~18 tok/s Usable	~15 tok/s Usable
Qwen3 30B-A3B About 21 GB	~96 tok/s Runs great	~81 tok/s Runs great
Qwen3 32B About 22 GB	~15 tok/s Usable	~13 tok/s Usable
Llama 3.3 70B About 45 GB	~7 tok/s Slow	~6 tok/s Slow
gpt-oss 120B About 67 GB	~66 tok/s Runs great	~56 tok/s Runs great
Qwen3 235B-A22B About 144 GB	Needs 144 GB	Needs 144 GB
DeepSeek R1 671B About 406 GB	Needs 406 GB	Needs 406 GB

Which should you get?

The Apple M4 Max, for speed. They fit the same models. Price matters as much as either number: check used prices on the builds page, where every parts list has a measured or estimated speed.

How we estimate

Both columns use the same formula: memory bandwidth divided by the weights read per token, calibrated on our own rack, with Ollama's default 4-bit sizes. Real results are usually within about a third. Measured either one? Send us the number.

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