Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max)
No editorial image yet — generic vendor mark shown. Credentials in spec table below.
The accessible Mac Studio tier, launched alongside the M3 Ultra. M4 Max with 36/48/64/96GB unified memory at 546 GB/s — about 2x the M4 Pro's bandwidth. The desk-side inference workhorse between the Mac Mini and the Ultra.
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Sub-scores sum to 626 / 1000. Headline = 626 × 0.70 (Estimated-confidence discount) = 438. This is an algorithmic performance-tier score — distinct from, and often lower than, the editorial “Our verdict” below, which weighs value and real-world fit (especially for hardware we haven’t measured yet). How scoring works →
Extrapolated from 546 GB/s bandwidth — 76.4 tok/s estimated. No measured benchmarks yet.
Plain-English: Runs 70B with care — snappy enough for a coding agent; vision models supported.
Verdicts extrapolated from catalog VRAM + bandwidth + ecosystem flags. Hover any chip for the rationale. Want measured numbers? Submit your own run with runlocalai-bench --submit.
What it does well
The M4 Max Studio is the point where Apple Silicon stops feeling bandwidth-starved. 546 GB/s is roughly double the M4 Pro and puts token-generation on 70B models into genuinely comfortable territory, while a 96GB config fits 70B at higher quants or multiple models resident at once. It's the natural pick for someone who runs local AI all day and wants a fast, silent, ~140W desk machine without stepping up to the $4k+ Ultra. MLX performance on the Max GPU is strong, and the Studio's thermals let it hold clocks under sustained load far better than a Mac Mini.
Where it struggles
Same Apple-Silicon caveats apply, just less acutely: prefill/TTFT on very long prompts still trails NVIDIA, and there's no CUDA path. At $1,999+ it overlaps awkwardly with a 64GB M4 Pro Mac Mini (much cheaper, slower) below it and the M3 Ultra (more memory + bandwidth) above it — the M4 Max is the right call specifically when you want Max-tier speed but don't need 128GB+ unified memory.
Bottom line
The default "serious local inference, still silent and efficient" Mac. Buy it over the Mac Mini when token speed on 70B matters; buy the Ultra instead only if you need 128GB+ for the very largest models.
Overview
The accessible Mac Studio tier, launched alongside the M3 Ultra. M4 Max with 36/48/64/96GB unified memory at 546 GB/s — about 2x the M4 Pro's bandwidth. The desk-side inference workhorse between the Mac Mini and the Ultra.
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Specs
| System RAM (typical) | 64 GB |
| Power draw (peak) | 140 W |
| Released | 2025 |
| MSRP | $1999 |
| Backends | Metal MLX |
Models that fit
Open-weight models small enough to run on Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max) with usable context.
Frequently asked
Does Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max) support CUDA?
Where next?
Reviewed by RunLocalAI Editorial. See our editorial policy for how we research and verify hardware specifications.