Gemma 3 27B on Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified)
Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) handles Gemma 3 27B well at 15 tok/s at Q5_K_M. A solid choice for this model.
Model Size
27.23B
Device VRAM
36 GB
Bandwidth
546 GB/s
Quantizations Tested
1
Performance by Quantization
Each row shows Gemma 3 27B performance at a different quality level on Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified).
| Quantization | Speed | TTFT | Fits in VRAM | Rating | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q5_K_M | 15 tok/s | 550ms | ✓ Yes | Good | estimated |
Notes
Q5_K_M
546 GB/s bandwidth doubles throughput vs M4 Pro. Q5_K_M fits comfortably.
About Gemma 3 27B
Gemma 3 27B (27.23B) is a chat, coding, reasoning, multi-purpose model. Google's strongest open-weight model. Excellent reasoning and instruction following. At 27B parameters, it's the sweet spot between 8B models (too limited) and 70B models (too expensive). Strong multilingual support. Fits on 24GB GPUs at Q4.
View all Gemma 3 27B hardware options →About Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified)
Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) has 36 GB at 546 GB/s. Available in MacBook Pro 16", Mac Studio.
See all models Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) can run →Source: MLX performance estimates (2026-03-15)
Data last updated: 2026-03-15