Apple M2 Max — Local LLM Performance & Compatibility

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated July 12, 2026

Up to 96 GB unified memory. 90 t/s on 8B, 24 t/s on 70B models. Popular in Mac Studio configurations. Silent, 40W system power. A strong used value at $1,500–2,000.

Technical Specifications

VRAM96 GB unified memory
Memory Bandwidth400 GB/s
TDP40 W
ArchitectureARM, 5nm TSMC
Release Year2023
MSRP at Launch$3,499
Inference Speed (Llama 3.1 8B Q4_K_M)24–49 tok/s (estimated)
Inference Speed (Llama 3.3 70B Q4_K_M)3.2–6.7 tok/s (estimated)
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Apple Mac Studio M2 Max
Launch MSRP: $3,499
2026 prices are volatile — check the current listing.
Check price on Amazon

LLMs Compatible with 96 GB Unified Memory

All models below run comfortably in 96 GB unified memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

Llama 3.3Llama 3.3 70B Instruct · 43 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run llama3.3
Llama 3.1 FamilyLlama 3.1 8B Instruct · 6 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run llama3.1
DeepSeek R1DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B · 20 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run deepseek-r1:32b
Qwen 3Qwen 3 32B · 21 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen3:32b
Gemma 3Gemma 3 27B Instruct · 17 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run gemma3:27b
Mistral Small 3.1Mistral Small 3.1 24B · 15 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run mistral-small3.1
Phi-4 FamilyPhi-4 (14B) · 9 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run phi4

Best Use Cases

Quick Start with Ollama

Install Ollama then run the recommended model for this GPU:

ollama run llama3.3:70b

FAQ

Can the Apple M2 Max run local LLMs?

Yes — the Apple M2 Max has 96 GB unified memory and runs Up to 96 GB unified memory. 90 t/s on 8B, 24 t/s on 70B models. Popular in Mac Studio configurations. Silent, 40W system

How fast is the Apple M2 Max for AI inference?

The Apple M2 Max is estimated to run Llama 3.1 8B at 24–49 tok/s with Q4_K_M quantization. For Llama 3.3 70B the estimate is 3.2–6.7 tok/s. These are modelled estimates, not measurements — see /en/methodology.

What LLMs can I run on 96 GB VRAM?

With 96 GB you can run: Llama 3.3, Llama 3.1 Family, DeepSeek R1, Qwen 3, Gemma 3. Use Ollama for the easiest setup: ollama run llama3.3:70b.

Can I Run It? — Apple M2 Max

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