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What AI can a Mac with M4 run?

Every memory option compared, 120 GB/s memory bandwidth. Updated 2 November 2026.

Quick verdict

M4 is sold with 16, 24, 32 GB of memory. Counting the 31 models tracked here: 16 GB runs 16 models well; 24 GB runs 20 models well; 32 GB runs 23 models well. Memory bandwidth is 120 GB/s, about the same memory speed as a base M4 (120 GB/s). 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 GB24 GB32 GB
Wan 2.2 14BNoNoSlow about 53 min
LTX-2.3NoSlow about 8 minGood about 4 min
Qwen 3.6 35B A3BNoNoTight 17/s
Qwen 3.5 35B A3BNoNoTight 17/s
Gemma 4 31BNoSlow 3/sSlow 3/s
DeepSeek R1 32BNoSlow 3/sSlow 3/s
Qwen3 Coder 30BNoTight 16/sGreat 17/s
Qwen 3.6 27BNoSlow 3/sSlow 4/s
Gemma 4 26B A4BNoTight 12/sGreat 14/s
Z-Image Turbo 6BSlow about 2 minGood about 49 sGood about 49 s
Wan 2.2 5BSlow about 27 minGood about 13 minGood about 13 min
gpt-oss 20BTight 13/sGreat 14/sGreat 14/s
ACE-Step 1.5Good about 3 minGood about 3 minGood about 3 min
FLUX.2 klein 4BGood about 34 sGood about 34 sGood about 34 s
Phi-4 14BGood 7/sGood 7/sGood 7/s
Gemma 4 12BGood 8/sGood 8/sGood 8/s
Stable Diffusion XLGood about 18 sGood about 18 sGood about 18 s
Qwen3 TTS 1.7BGood about 52 sGood about 52 sGood about 52 s
Gemma 4 E4BGreat 20/sGreat 20/sGreat 20/s
Qwen 3.5 9BGood 10/sGood 10/sGood 10/s
Qwen3 VL 8BGood 11/sGood 11/sGood 11/s
DeepSeek R1 8BGreat 12/sGreat 12/sGreat 12/s
Qwen2.5 Coder 7BGreat 14/sGreat 14/sGreat 14/s
Gemma 4 E2BGreat 32/sGreat 32/sGreat 32/s
Whisper large-v3 turboGood about 1 minGood about 1 minGood about 1 min
Qwen 3.5 4BGreat 19/sGreat 19/sGreat 19/s
Kokoro TTSGood about 11 sGood 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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M4 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 13 words a second with no spare room. The quickest is Gemma 4 E2B at about 32 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 M4 Macs with 16 GB on Amazon

M4 with 24 GB

About 23 GB is usable by the GPU. The largest chat or coding model that fits is Qwen3 Coder 30B (20.4 GB), generating about 16 words a second with 2.4 GB to spare. The quickest is Gemma 4 E2B at about 32 words a second. Closest miss: Qwen 3.5 35B A3B, which needs about 23.6 GB (1 GB more than this configuration can give the GPU).

Find M4 Macs with 24 GB on Amazon

M4 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 17 words a second with 5.8 GB to spare. The quickest is Gemma 4 E2B at about 32 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 M4 Macs with 32 GB on Amazon

Questions

How much memory do I need on M4 for local AI?

For everyday chat, 16 GB runs 16 of 31 models well. 24 GB to 32 GB unlocks 3 more: Qwen 3.5 35B A3B, Qwen 3.6 35B A3B, LTX-2.3.

Can M4 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 M4 for local AI?

16 GB runs gpt-oss 20B at about 13 words a second; 24 GB runs gpt-oss 20B at about 14 words a second; 32 GB runs gpt-oss 20B at about 14 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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