Apple M5 — Local LLM Performance & Compatibility

Name: LLM Configurator — GPU VRAM Checker
Author: LLM Configurator

作者： Jakub Rusinowski · 最后更新： 2026年7月12日

First Mac chip with a Neural Accelerator in every GPU core. Up to 32 GB unified memory at 153 GB/s — 28% more bandwidth than M4. Launched October 2025 in the MacBook Pro 14".

Technical Specifications

VRAM	32 GB unified memory
Memory Bandwidth	153 GB/s
TDP	23 W
Architecture	ARM, 3nm TSMC
Release Year	2025
MSRP at Launch	$1,599
Inference Speed (Llama 3.1 8B Q4_K_M)	9.7–20 tok/s (estimated)
Inference Speed (Llama 3.3 70B Q4_K_M)	Does not fit — needs ~44 GB of 24 GB usable

购买此硬件 Apple MacBook Air M5 — 32 GB VRAM · 23 W board power 立即云端部署 RunPod 上的 NVIDIA A40 — 低至 $0.44/小时 · 价格核实于 2026-08

或在 Vast.ai 比较

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Apple MacBook Air M5

32 GB VRAM · 23 W board power

2026年价格波动较大——请以当前商品页价格为准。

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LLMs Compatible with 32 GB Unified Memory

All models below run comfortably in 32 GB unified memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

Command R Family	Command R (35B) · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · `ollama run command-r`
Qwen 3.5	Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · `ollama run qwen3.5:35b-a3b`
Qwen 3.6	Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · `ollama run qwen3.6:35b-a3b`
Nex-N2	Nex-N2 mini · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · nex-n2
Yi 1.5 Family	Yi 1.5 34B Chat · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · `ollama run yi:34b`
Qwen 3	Qwen 3 32B · 21 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · `ollama run qwen3:32b`
Aya Expanse	Aya Expanse 32B · 20 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · `ollama run aya-expanse:32b`
DeepSeek R1	DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B · 20 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · `ollama run deepseek-r1:32b`

56 more families also fit 32 GB — browse the full model library.

Best Use Cases

8B–14B models
MacBook Pro 14"
on-device AI

Quick Start with Ollama

Install Ollama then run the recommended model for this GPU:

ollama run qwen3:14b

FAQ

Can the Apple M5 run local LLMs?

Yes — the Apple M5 has 32 GB unified memory and runs First Mac chip with a Neural Accelerator in every GPU core. Up to 32 GB unified memory at 153 GB/s — 28% more bandwidth

How fast is the Apple M5 for AI inference?

The Apple M5 is estimated to run Llama 3.1 8B at 9.7–20 tok/s with Q4_K_M quantization. Llama 3.3 70B does not fit: it needs about 44 GB against 24 GB usable. These are modelled estimates, not measurements — see /en/methodology.

What LLMs can I run on 32 GB VRAM?

With 32 GB you can run: Command R Family, Qwen 3.5, Qwen 3.6, Nex-N2, Yi 1.5 Family. Use Ollama for the easiest setup: ollama run qwen3:14b.

Can I Run It? — Apple M5

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