What can MacBook Pro 16" M4 Max run for agents?

Build: MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB

Memory: 64 GB unified memory
Runner: MLX-LM (Apple Metal)

Runs comfortably
91 models

Ranked by fit for agents use case + predicted speed. Click a row for VRAM breakdown.

#1Hermes 3 Llama 3.1 8B
8B
hermes
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 13.4 GBHeadroom: 42.6 GB
ollama run hermes3:8b
61
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
8.50 GB
KV cache
4.00 GB
Activations
0.43 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#2Dolphin 3.0 Mistral 24B
24B
dolphin
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 27.2 GBHeadroom: 28.8 GB
ollama run dolphin-mistral:24b
36
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
14.00 GB
KV cache
12.00 GB
Activations
0.71 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#3Qwen 2.5 7B Instruct
7B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 9.5 GBHeadroom: 46.5 GB
ollama run qwen2.5:7b
70
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
8.10 GB
KV cache
0.47 GB
Activations
0.41 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#4Qwen 2.5 14B Instruct
14B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 24.0 GBHeadroom: 32.0 GB
ollama run qwen2.5:14b
35
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
15.70 GB
KV cache
7.00 GB
Activations
0.79 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#5Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3
7B
mistral
Commercial OK
Quant: Q5_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 9.4 GBHeadroom: 46.6 GB
ollama run mistral:7b
109
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
5.10 GB
KV cache
3.50 GB
Activations
0.26 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#6Llama 3.1 Nemotron Nano 8B
8B
llama
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 9.7 GBHeadroom: 46.3 GB
108
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
4.90 GB
KV cache
4.00 GB
Activations
0.25 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#7Qwen 3 30B-A3B
30B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 49.1 GBHeadroom: 6.9 GB
ollama run qwen3:30b
16
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
32.00 GB
KV cache
15.00 GB
Activations
1.61 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#8Qwen3.8 27B
27B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 44.5 GBHeadroom: 11.5 GB
ollama run qwen3.8:27b
18
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
29.00 GB
KV cache
13.50 GB
Activations
1.46 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#9Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B Instruct
32B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 38.4 GBHeadroom: 17.6 GB
ollama run qwen2.5-coder:32b
15
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
34.00 GB
KV cache
2.15 GB
Activations
1.71 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#10DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B
70B
deepseek
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 51.3 GBHeadroom: 4.7 GB
ollama run deepseek-r1:70b
12
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
40.00 GB
KV cache
8.75 GB
Activations
2.00 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#11Llama 3.1 70B Instruct
70B
llama
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 51.3 GBHeadroom: 4.7 GB
ollama run llama3.1:70b
12
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
40.00 GB
KV cache
8.75 GB
Activations
2.00 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
#12Llama 3.1 Nemotron 70B Instruct
70B
llama
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 51.3 GBHeadroom: 4.7 GB
ollama run nemotron:70b
12
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
40.00 GB
KV cache
8.75 GB
Activations
2.00 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB

Runs with tradeoffs
10 models

Tight VRAM, partial CPU offload, or context-limited.

Mixtral 8x7B Instruct
47B
mixtral
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 53.4 GBHeadroom: 2.6 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 2.6 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run mixtral:8x7b
18
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
28.00 GB
KV cache
23.50 GB
Activations
1.41 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
Qwen 3 32B
32B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 52.2 GBHeadroom: 3.8 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 3.8 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run qwen3:32b
15
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
34.00 GB
KV cache
16.00 GB
Activations
1.71 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
Qwen 2.5 32B Instruct
32B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q8_0Context: 8,192VRAM: 52.2 GBHeadroom: 3.8 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 3.8 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run qwen2.5:32b
15
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
34.00 GB
KV cache
16.00 GB
Activations
1.71 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
Qwen 2.5 72B Instruct
72B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 52.6 GBHeadroom: 3.4 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 3.4 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run qwen2.5:72b
12
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
41.00 GB
KV cache
9.00 GB
Activations
2.05 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
70B
llama
Commercial OK
Quant: Q5_K_MContext: 8,192VRAM: 52.5 GBHeadroom: 3.5 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 3.5 GB headroom left for context growth
ollama run llama3.3:70b
11
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
47.00 GB
KV cache
2.68 GB
Activations
2.36 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
Qwen 2.5 Math 72B
72B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 52.6 GBHeadroom: 3.4 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 3.4 GB headroom left for context growth
12
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
41.00 GB
KV cache
9.00 GB
Activations
2.05 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
Qwen 2.5-VL 72B
72B
qwen
Commercial OK
Quant: AWQ-INT4Context: 2,048VRAM: 53.6 GBHeadroom: 2.4 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 2.4 GB headroom left for context growth
7
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
42.00 GB
KV cache
9.00 GB
Activations
2.10 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB
OpenBioLLM Llama 3 70B
70B
openbiollm
Commercial OK
Quant: Q4_K_MContext: 2,048VRAM: 53.4 GBHeadroom: 2.6 GB
  • • Tight VRAM fit — only 2.6 GB headroom left for context growth
12
tok/s
Estimated
Weights
42.00 GB
KV cache
8.75 GB
Activations
2.10 GB
Runtime
0.50 GB

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 run
top 5 popular models

Need more memory than you have. Shown for orientation.

DeepSeek V4 Pro (1.6T MoE)
1600B
deepseek
Commercial OK

Needs ~1024 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 56 GB available after OS overhead.

—
Qwen 3 235B-A22B
235B
qwen
Commercial OK

Needs ~160 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 56 GB available after OS overhead.

—
DeepSeek R1 (671B reasoning)
671B
deepseek
Commercial OK

Needs ~420 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 56 GB available after OS overhead.

—
Llama 4 Scout
109B
llama
Commercial OK

Needs ~80 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 56 GB available after OS overhead.

—
DeepSeek V4 Flash (284B MoE)
284B
deepseek
Commercial OK

Needs ~192 GB unified memory minimum at smallest quant; you have 56 GB available after OS overhead.

—
Cloud GPU rental

Not enough VRAM for these models? Rent a GPU by the hour

The models above need more memory than 64 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-hour

Hourly 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 RunPod

Vast.ai

billed per GPU-hour

Marketplace of host-listed GPUs; price and reliability vary by host.

Host quality varies. Filter for verified hosts and check the host's reliability before a long run.

Rent on Vast.ai

Referral links: RunLocalAI may earn a commission or account credits if you sign up and rent, at no extra cost to you. Hourly rates and which GPUs are listed change all the time, so check the provider's page before you start. Editorial opinions are independent of the referral relationship; see how we make money.

How to read these numbers

Measured here
Measured here - RunLocalAI ran this exact combo on owner hardware with public evidence.

Source-backed
Source-backed / community - a reproduced public source supports the speed, but it is not labeled as owner-measured.

Extrapolated
Extrapolated - predicted from a measured benchmark on similar-bandwidth hardware.

Estimated
Estimated - formula based on VRAM bandwidth and model architecture; not a benchmark row.

RunLocalAI Will-It-Run Framework →

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