Apple M5 Max — Local LLM Performance & Compatibility

Up to 128 GB unified memory at 614 GB/s — 12% more bandwidth than M4 Max at the same memory ceiling. Released March 2026 in the MacBook Pro 14"/16". Runs 70B models at roughly 42 t/s.

Technical Specifications

VRAM128 GB unified memory
Memory Bandwidth614 GB/s
TDP35 W
ArchitectureARM, 3nm TSMC
Release Year2026
MSRP at Launch$3,499
Inference Speed (Llama 3.1 8B Q4_K_M)~125 tokens/sec
Inference Speed (Llama 3.3 70B Q4_K_M)~42 tokens/sec

LLMs Compatible with 128 GB Unified Memory

All models below run comfortably in 128 GB unified memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

Llama 3.324 GB VRAM · Q2_K_XS (Tight) · ollama run llama3.3
Llama 3.1 Family6 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run llama3.1
Llama 424 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run llama4:maverick
DeepSeek R120 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run deepseek-r1:32b
Qwen 380 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen3:235b-a22b
Qwen3-Coder8 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen3-coder:80b-a3b-q4
Gemma 316 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run gemma3:27b
Mistral Small 3.114 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run mistral-small3.1

Best Use Cases

Quick Start with Ollama

Install Ollama then run the recommended model for this GPU:

ollama run llama4:scout

FAQ

Can the Apple M5 Max run local LLMs?

Yes — the Apple M5 Max has 128 GB unified memory and runs Up to 128 GB unified memory at 614 GB/s — 12% more bandwidth than M4 Max at the same memory ceiling. Released March 2026

How fast is the Apple M5 Max for AI inference?

The Apple M5 Max runs Llama 3.1 8B at ~125 tokens/sec with Q4_K_M quantization. For the 70B model it achieves ~42 tokens/sec.

What LLMs can I run on 128 GB VRAM?

With 128 GB you can run: Llama 3.3, Llama 3.1 Family, Llama 4, DeepSeek R1, Qwen 3. Use Ollama for the easiest setup: ollama run llama4:scout.

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