Apple
Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified)
36 GB · 546 GB/s
$2,999
Updated 2026-03-01
The Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) with 36 GB unified memory can handle 16 AI models across chat, coding, ai_coding. Best performance: Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at 150 tok/s (excellent). For AI coding workflows, it supports the Power AI Coding tier — runs 32B coding models at good quality. Current price: approximately $2,999.
— OwnRig methodology, data updated 2026-03-01
Builder Capability: Power AI Coding
Runs 32B coding models at good quality. Can handle coding model + embeddings concurrently.
Specifications
Memory
- Capacity
- 36 GB
- Bandwidth
- 546 GB/s
- Type
- Unified Memory
Power & Platform
- TDP
- 75W
- GPU Cores
- 40
- Host Devices
- MacBook Pro 16", Mac Studio
Compatible Models
| Model | Quant | Speed | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | Q8_0 | 55 tok/s | Excellent | M4 Max bandwidth (546 GB/s) makes a huge difference over M4 Pro. Excellent for daily use. |
| Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B Instruct | Q5_K_M | 18 tok/s | Good | Q5 fits with 14GB headroom. M4 Max bandwidth (546 GB/s) delivers usable speeds. Good for coding workflows. |
| DeepSeek Coder V2 Lite 16B | Q5_K_M | 35 tok/s | Good | Good Mac performance thanks to MoE efficiency. 25GB free for other workloads. |
| Mixtral 8x7B Instruct | Q4_K_M | 20 tok/s | Good | Q4 at 26.2GB fits in 36GB unified memory. MoE sparsity gives good speed despite total param count. |
| Gemma 2 27B Instruct | Q5_K_M | 15 tok/s | Good | Q5 at 18.5GB in 36GB. Good quality with headroom for a small concurrent model. |
| Code Llama 34B Instruct | Q4_K_M | 14 tok/s | Good | Q4 at 19GB in 36GB unified memory. 17GB headroom. |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B | Q4_K_M | 52 tok/s | Excellent | M4 Max bandwidth delivers strong performance for 7B reasoning model. |
| Phi-4 14B | Q5_K_M | 35 tok/s | Good | Good Mac performance for 14B reasoning. Headroom for concurrent models. |
| Qwen 2.5 14B Instruct | Q5_K_M | 38 tok/s | Good | Good Mac performance. Headroom for concurrent workloads. |
| Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | Q8_0 | 100 tok/s | Excellent | 546 GB/s bandwidth doubles M4 Pro speed. Excellent 3B performance on Mac. |
| Llama 3.2 1B Instruct | Q8_0 | 150 tok/s | Excellent | 546 GB/s delivers strong 1B speed. Excellent for Mac inference. |
| Phi-4 Mini | Q8_0 | 90 tok/s | Excellent | 546 GB/s doubles M4 Pro speed. Good Phi-4 mini performance on Mac. |
| Whisper Large V3 Turbo | FP16 | — | Excellent | 546 GB/s improves transcription speed over M4 Pro. Real-time capable. |
| Stable Diffusion 3.5 Large | FP16 | — | Good | 546 GB/s improves over M4 Pro. ~10s per image. Usable for image generation on Mac. |
| Gemma 3 27B | Q5_K_M | 15 tok/s | Good | 546 GB/s bandwidth doubles throughput vs M4 Pro. Q5_K_M fits comfortably. |
| DeepSeek V3 | Q2_K | — | Not Viable | 671B MoE model requires 115GB+ at Q2_K. 36GB insufficient. Would need M4 Max 128GB. |
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What AI models can Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) run?
- The Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) can run 16 AI models. Top performers include Llama 3.2 1B Instruct, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct, Phi-4 Mini. See the full compatibility table above for speeds and quality ratings.
- Is Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) good for AI coding?
- Yes. With 36 GB, the Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) supports the Power AI Coding tier — large coding models at good quality.
- How much VRAM does Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) have?
- The Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) has 36 GB of unified memory with 546 GB/s bandwidth.
- Can Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) run 70B models?
- 70B models can run on the Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) with CPU offloading, but performance will be reduced. Consider a GPU with 48GB+ VRAM for full-speed 70B inference.
- Is Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) worth it for AI?
- At $2,999, the Apple M4 Max (36GB Unified) offers 36 GB VRAM and runs 16 AI models. It's a strong choice for local AI inference.
Generation: M4. Last updated: 2026-03-01.