What can MacBook Pro 16" M4 Max run for chat?
Build: MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB
Runs comfortably150 models
Ranked by fit for chat use case + predicted speed. Click a row for VRAM breakdown.
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 1.1 GBHeadroom: 118.9 GB1442tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 5.6 GBHeadroom: 114.4 GBollama run llama3.2:3b164tok/sEstimated
ollama run llama3.2:3bQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 2.3 GBHeadroom: 117.7 GB509tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 1.3 GBHeadroom: 118.7 GB787tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 2.7 GBHeadroom: 117.3 GB433tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 17.4 GBHeadroom: 102.6 GB361tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 4,096VRAM: 6.3 GBHeadroom: 113.7 GB124tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 3.3 GBHeadroom: 116.7 GBollama run alibayram/kumru:latest361tok/sEstimated
ollama run alibayram/kumru:latestQuant: Q4_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 8.4 GBHeadroom: 111.6 GBollama run brooqs/mistral-turkish-v2:latest129tok/sEstimated
ollama run brooqs/mistral-turkish-v2:latestQuant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 3.8 GBHeadroom: 116.2 GB288tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 3.9 GBHeadroom: 116.1 GB288tok/sEstimated
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 3.9 GBHeadroom: 116.1 GB288tok/sEstimated
What if you upgraded?
Hypothetical scenarios. We re-ran the compatibility engine for each.
Move up an Apple memory tier
Varies by configuration. Check Apple's current pricing
On Apple Silicon, more unified memory is the only path forward — VRAM and system RAM are the same pool.
Won't runtop 5 popular models
Need more memory than you have. Shown for orientation.
Needs ~1024 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
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Needs ~1024 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
Needs ~160 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
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Needs ~160 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
Needs ~420 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
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Needs ~420 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
Needs ~192 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
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Needs ~192 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
Needs ~420 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
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Needs ~420 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 120 GB available after OS overhead.
Not enough VRAM for these models? Rent a GPU by the hour
The models above need more memory than 128 GB unified memory. You can rent a GPU with enough VRAM by the hour to run one of them, or to test it before you buy hardware. For daily use, owning a card usually costs less over time.
RunPod
billed per GPU-hourHourly GPU pods, in community-cloud and secure-cloud tiers.
The two tiers run on different hosts and terms. Check which tier a pod is on before a long job.
Rent on RunPodVast.ai
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How to read these numbers
Want a specific benchmark we don't have? Email Contact support and we'll prioritize it.