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What AI can a Mac with M1 Pro / M2 Pro run?

Every memory option compared, 200 GB/s memory bandwidth. Updated 2 November 2026.

Quick verdict

M1 Pro / M2 Pro are sold with 16, 32 GB of memory. Counting the 31 models tracked here: 16 GB runs 16 models well; 32 GB runs 23 models well. Memory bandwidth is 200 GB/s, about 1.7 times the memory speed of a base M4 (120 GB/s), so the same model generates words proportionally faster. Apple Silicon shares one pool of memory between the processor and the GPU, and macOS lets the GPU use about two thirds of it on Macs up to 36 GB and about three quarters above that, so the memory you buy decides which models load at all.

Which memory should you choose?

Smallest configuration for popular models

Every model, every memory option

Model16 GB32 GB
Wan 2.2 14BNoSlow about 53 min
LTX-2.3NoGood about 4 min
Qwen 3.6 35B A3BNoTight 27/s
Qwen 3.5 35B A3BNoTight 29/s
Gemma 4 31BNoSlow 5/s
DeepSeek R1 32BNoSlow 5/s
Qwen3 Coder 30BNoGreat 29/s
Qwen 3.6 27BNoSlow 6/s
Gemma 4 26B A4BNoGreat 23/s
Z-Image Turbo 6BSlow about 2 minGood about 49 s
Wan 2.2 5BSlow about 27 minGood about 13 min
gpt-oss 20BTight 22/sGreat 24/s
ACE-Step 1.5Good about 3 minGood about 3 min
FLUX.2 klein 4BGood about 34 sGood about 34 s
Phi-4 14BGreat 11/sGreat 11/s
Gemma 4 12BGreat 14/sGreat 14/s
Stable Diffusion XLGood about 18 sGood about 18 s
Qwen3 TTS 1.7BGood about 52 sGood about 52 s
Gemma 4 E4BGreat 33/sGreat 33/s
Qwen 3.5 9BGreat 16/sGreat 16/s
Qwen3 VL 8BGreat 17/sGreat 17/s
DeepSeek R1 8BGreat 20/sGreat 20/s
Qwen2.5 Coder 7BGreat 23/sGreat 23/s
Gemma 4 E2BGreat 53/sGreat 53/s
Whisper large-v3 turboGood about 1 minGood about 1 min
Qwen 3.5 4BGreat 32/sGreat 32/s
Kokoro TTSGood about 11 sGood about 11 s

Text models show words a second. Image, video and voice models show the time per job (image, 4 second clip, minute of speech or similar).

Each configuration in detail

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M1 Pro / M2 Pro with 16 GB

About 15 GB is usable by the GPU. The largest chat or coding model that fits is gpt-oss 20B (15.2 GB), generating about 22 words a second with no spare room. The quickest is Gemma 4 E2B at about 53 words a second. Closest miss: Gemma 4 26B A4B, which needs about 19.4 GB (4 GB more than this configuration can give the GPU).

Find M2 Pro Macs with 16 GB on Amazon

M1 Pro / M2 Pro with 32 GB

About 30 GB is usable by the GPU. The largest chat or coding model that fits is Qwen 3.6 35B A3B (24.6 GB), generating about 27 words a second with 5.8 GB to spare. The quickest is Gemma 4 E2B at about 53 words a second. Closest miss: Llama 3.3 70B, which needs about 45.6 GB (15 GB more than this configuration can give the GPU).

Find M2 Pro Macs with 32 GB on Amazon

Questions

How much memory do I need on M1 Pro / M2 Pro for local AI?

For everyday chat, 16 GB runs 16 of 31 models well. 16 GB to 32 GB unlocks 7 more: Gemma 4 26B A4B, Qwen 3.5 35B A3B, Qwen3 Coder 30B, Qwen 3.6 35B A3B, Z-Image Turbo 6B and more.

Can M1 Pro / M2 Pro run Gemma 4 31B?

No. It needs about 21.5 GB of usable memory and this chip's largest option is 32 GB.

How fast is M1 Pro / M2 Pro for local AI?

16 GB runs gpt-oss 20B at about 22 words a second; 32 GB runs gpt-oss 20B at about 24 words a second.

What an upgrade would unlock

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Mac with M5 Pro, 48 GB

Unlocks 4 more: Gemma 4 31B, Qwen 3.6 27B, DeepSeek R1 32B, Wan 2.2 14B.

See prices

Mac with M5 Max, 128 GB

Unlocks 7 more: Gemma 4 31B, Llama 3.3 70B, Qwen 3.5 122B A10B, gpt-oss 120B and more.

See prices
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