Unified memory · Apple

What AI models can an Apple M4 Pro 48GB run?

48 GB puts the 70B class within comfortable reach and leaves room for the context window that makes those models worth running. Memory is shared with the CPU, so the practical ceiling is lower than the sticker number: macOS hands roughly three quarters of it to the GPU by default.

The first Mac configuration where 70B models become possible, at a low quantization and with the GPU memory limit raised. Its 273 GB/s keeps generation readable for 30B models and slow for a 70B. A quiet, low-power way to hold a large model.

Memory48 GB

Bandwidth273 GB/s

Usable for a model36 GB

Runtime backendMETAL

The short answer

Assuming an 8k context window and default settings, these are the models worth downloading first.

Best all-rounder

Gemma 4 26B A4B Instruct

Q8_0 · 26.69 GB · about 23.8 tokens/s

Best for code

Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct

Q8_0 · 31.27 GB · about 26.8 tokens/s

Largest that still runs well

Qwen3 32B

32.76B parameters · IQ4_XS · about 10.4 tokens/s

Fastest useful answer

LFM2.5 8B A1B

about 65.3 tokens/s · 8.78 GB

See how fast it feels

Apple M4 Pro 48GB running Gemma 4 26B A4B Instruct at Q8_0

Wait for the first word1.4 s

Then writes at23.8 tok/s

Whole answer8.7 s

YouWhy does my model use more memory when the conversation gets longer?

Model

Simulated from our estimate at a 512-token question, not a recording. Assumes nothing else is competing for the GPU.

Where it sits

The GPU can use about 36 GB of this machine's 48 GB by default, so for planning it behaves like a 32 GB card with different bandwidth. The 32 GB guide explains what that tier runs and where it runs out, and the bandwidth guide explains why 273 GB/s decides how fast it answers.

Our indicative price for this machine is $1,799 new, reviewed 2026-09-01. That is 2.7 GB of memory and 15 GB/s of bandwidth for every $100. Prices move, so treat these as a place to start a search and not a quote.

Devices in a similar price band, fastest memory first:

Device	Price	Memory	Bandwidth	Best all-round pick
Apple M1 Max 32GB	$1,400	32 GB	400 GB/s	Gemma 4 12B Instruct, 20.7 t/s
Apple M1 Max 64GB	$1,900	64 GB	400 GB/s	Qwen3.5 35B A3B, 51.8 t/s
Apple M4 Pro 24GB	$1,399	24 GB	273 GB/s	GPT OSS 20B, 45.1 t/s
Apple M4 Pro 64GB	$1,999	64 GB	273 GB/s	Qwen3.5 35B A3B, 35.4 t/s

Can an Apple M4 Pro 48GB run it?

A direct answer for the models people ask about most, each with the settings we would use.

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct Llama 3.1 8B Instruct Qwen3 8B Qwen3.5 9B Gemma 4 12B Instruct Qwen3 14B Phi 4 GPT OSS 20B Qwen3.5 27B Gemma 4 31B Instruct Qwen3 32B Qwen3 30B A3B Llama 3.3 70B Instruct GPT OSS 120B

Every model, scored on this device

Each row uses the highest-quality quantization that both fits and stays conversational. Speed is a single-stream estimate at 8k context.

Model	Params	Verdict	Download	Memory used	Speed	Max context
Gemma 4 26B A4B Instruct Gemma	25.81B (3.74B active)	Runs well	Q8_0	26.69 GB	23.8 t/s	64k
GLM 4.7 Flash GLM	31.22B (3.66B active)	Runs great	Q8_0	31.61 GB	26.9 t/s	64k
Qwen3 30B A3B Qwen	30.53B (3.34B active)	Runs great	Q8_0	31.27 GB	26.8 t/s	32k
GPT OSS 20B GPT-OSS	20.91B (4.18B active)	Runs great	MXFP4	11.81 GB	45.1 t/s	128k
Qwen3 Coder 30B A3B Instruct Qwen	30.53B (3.34B active)	Runs great	Q8_0	31.27 GB	26.8 t/s	32k
Qwen3.5 9B Qwen	9.65B	Runs well	Q8_0	10.22 GB	21 t/s	256k
Qwen3.5 27B Qwen	27.78B	Runs well	Q5_K_M	19.46 GB	10.2 t/s	256k
Gemma 4 12B Instruct Gemma	11.96B	Runs well	Q8_0	13.52 GB	14.1 t/s	128k
Gemma 4 E4B Instruct Gemma	8B	Runs well	Q8_0	8.39 GB	23 t/s	128k
Qwen3 32B Qwen	32.76B	Runs well	IQ4_XS	18.62 GB	10.4 t/s	32k
Qwen3 8B Qwen	8.19B	Runs well	Q8_0	9.61 GB	21.5 t/s	32k
Granite 4.1 8B Granite	8.79B	Runs well	Q8_0	10.32 GB	18.7 t/s	128k
Qwen2.5 VL 7B Instruct Qwen	8.29B	Runs well	Q8_0	9 GB	22.9 t/s	64k
Granite 4.1 30B Granite	28.87B	Runs well	Q4_K_M	18.61 GB	10.2 t/s	64k
Qwen3 14B Qwen	14.77B	Runs well	Q8_0	16.28 GB	12.3 t/s	32k
Gemma 4 31B Instruct Gemma	31.27B	Runs well	Q3_K_M	17.93 GB	10.6 t/s	64k
Gemma 3 27B Instruct Gemma	27.43B	Runs well	Q4_K_M	16.93 GB	11.2 t/s	128k
Qwen2.5 32B Instruct Qwen	32.76B	Runs well	IQ4_XS	18.62 GB	10.4 t/s	32k
Qwen2.5 14B Instruct Qwen	14.77B	Runs well	Q8_0	16.53 GB	12.1 t/s	32k
Qwen2.5 7B Instruct Qwen	7.62B	Runs well	Q8_0	8.34 GB	25 t/s	32k
Gemma 3 12B Instruct Gemma	12.19B	Runs well	Q8_0	13.24 GB	14.4 t/s	128k
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct Llama	8.03B	Runs well	Q8_0	9.32 GB	22 t/s	128k
Qwen2.5 Coder 14B Instruct Qwen	14.77B	Runs well	Q8_0	16.53 GB	12.1 t/s	32k
Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct Qwen	32.76B	Runs well	IQ4_XS	18.62 GB	10.4 t/s	32k
DeepSeek Coder V2 Lite Instruct DeepSeek	15.71B (2.74B active)	Runs great	Q8_0	16.09 GB	37 t/s	128k
Mistral Small 24B Instruct 2501 Mistral	23.57B	Runs well	Q5_K_M	17.27 GB	11.3 t/s	32k
Phi 4 Phi	14.66B	Runs well	Q8_0	16.48 GB	11.9 t/s	16k
Qwen2.5 Coder 7B Instruct Qwen	7.62B	Runs well	Q8_0	8.34 GB	25 t/s	32k
Mistral Nemo Instruct 2407 Mistral	12.25B	Runs well	Q8_0	13.78 GB	14.6 t/s	128k
OLMo 3 7B Instruct OLMo	7.3B	Runs well	Q8_0	10.1 GB	19.9 t/s	64k

Show the other 56 models

Internlm3 8B Instruct	8.8B	Runs well	Q8_0	9.46 GB	21.7 t/s	32k
Mistral 7B Instruct V0.3	7.25B	Runs well	Q8_0	8.55 GB	23.1 t/s	32k
Gemma 2 9B Instruct	9.24B	Runs well	Q8_0	11.47 GB	16.7 t/s	8k
Codestral 22B V0.1	22.25B	Fits, but slow	Q6_K	19.18 GB	10 t/s	32k
Gemma 4 E2B Instruct	5.12B	Runs great	Q8_0	5.41 GB	36.3 t/s	128k
Qwen3.5 4B	4.66B	Runs great	Q8_0	5.24 GB	37.8 t/s	256k
Mistral 7B Instruct V0.2	7.24B	Runs well	Q8_0	8.54 GB	23.1 t/s	32k
DeepSeek Coder 7B Instruct V1.5	6.91B	Runs well	Q8_0	10.96 GB	18.2 t/s	4k
LFM2.5 8B A1B	8.47B	Runs great	Q8_0	8.78 GB	65.3 t/s	64k
Qwen3 4B	4.02B	Runs great	Q8_0	5.43 GB	36.4 t/s	32k
DeepSeek Coder 6.7B Instruct	6.74B	Runs well	Q8_0	11.04 GB	17.6 t/s	16k
Gemma 3 4B Instruct	4.3B	Runs great	Q8_0	4.88 GB	40.8 t/s	128k
Qwen3.5 122B A10B	125.09B	Fits only at 2 to 3 bits	IQ2_XXS	30.67 GB	47.3 t/s	128k
Phi 4 Mini Instruct	3.84B	Runs great	Q8_0	5.14 GB	38.7 t/s	128k
Granite 4.1 3B	3.4B	Runs great	Q8_0	4.31 GB	46.5 t/s	128k
Qwen2.5 3B Instruct	3.09B	Runs great	Q8_0	3.65 GB	55.6 t/s	32k
Phi 3 Mini 4k Instruct	3.82B	Runs great	Q8_0	4.87 GB	41.9 t/s	4k
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct	3.21B	Runs great	Q8_0	4.39 GB	45.8 t/s	128k
LFM2.5 2.6B	2.7B	Runs great	Q8_0	3.11 GB	66.4 t/s	128k
Qwen3.5 2B	2.27B	Runs great	Q8_0	2.67 GB	78.7 t/s	256k
Gemma 2 2B Instruct	2.61B	Runs great	Q8_0	3.51 GB	58.1 t/s	8k
Starcoder2 3B	3.03B	Runs great	Q8_0	3.46 GB	62.6 t/s	16k
Qwen3 1.7B	2.03B	Runs great	Q8_0	3.19 GB	64.4 t/s	32k
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B	1.78B	Runs great	Q8_0	2.27 GB	106.1 t/s	128k
Qwen2.5 1.5B Instruct	1.54B	Runs great	Q8_0	2.03 GB	106.5 t/s	32k
SmolLM2 1.7B	1.71B	Runs great	Q8_0	3.5 GB	58.1 t/s	8k
OLMo 2 0425 1B	1.48B	Runs great	Q8_0	2.77 GB	82.1 t/s	4k
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct	1.24B	Runs great	Q8_0	1.79 GB	125.7 t/s	128k
LFM2.5 1.2B Instruct	1.17B	Runs great	Q8_0	1.56 GB	165.9 t/s	64k
Gemma 3 1B Instruct	1B	Runs great	Q8_0	1.32 GB	178.7 t/s	32k
Qwen3.5 0.8B	0.87B	Runs great	Q8_0	1.25 GB	190.8 t/s	256k
Qwen3 0.6B	0.75B	Runs great	Q8_0	1.89 GB	114.8 t/s	32k
Qwen2.5 0.5B Instruct	0.49B	Runs great	Q8_0	0.85 GB	320.8 t/s	32k
LFM2.5 350M	0.35B	Runs great	Q8_0	0.71 GB	496.7 t/s	64k
Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct	81.32B	Just fits	n/a	40.8 GB	58.8 t/s	n/a
Qwen3 Coder Next	79.67B	Just fits	n/a	39.99 GB	58.8 t/s	n/a
Qwen3.5 35B A3B	35.95B	Just fits	n/a	36.1 GB	35.4 t/s	n/a
GLM 4.5 Air	110.47B	Fits only at 2 to 3 bits	n/a	41.17 GB	17.4 t/s	n/a
Phi 3.5 MoE Instruct	41.87B	Just fits	n/a	42.81 GB	14.3 t/s	n/a
Mixtral 8x7B Instruct V0.1	46.7B	Just fits	n/a	37.04 GB	10 t/s	n/a
Qwen2.5 VL 72B Instruct	73.41B	Just fits	n/a	39.33 GB	4.9 t/s	n/a
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct	70.55B	Just fits	n/a	42.68 GB	4.5 t/s	n/a
Llama 3 3 Nemotron Super 49B V1	49.87B	Just fits	n/a	43.21 GB	4.4 t/s	n/a
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct	72.71B	Just fits	n/a	43.9 GB	4.3 t/s	n/a
GPT OSS 120B	116.83B	CPU only	n/a	59.65 GB	n/a	n/a
Kimi K2.6	1026.88B	Will not run	n/a	578.41 GB	n/a	n/a
Kimi K2 Instruct	1026.41B	Will not run	n/a	578.15 GB	n/a	n/a
GLM 5.1	753.86B	Will not run	n/a	425.01 GB	n/a	n/a
GLM 5.2	753.33B	Will not run	n/a	424.72 GB	n/a	n/a
DeepSeek V3.2	685.4B	Will not run	n/a	386.4 GB	n/a	n/a
DeepSeek R1	684.53B	Will not run	n/a	385.92 GB	n/a	n/a
MiniMax M3	427.04B	Will not run	n/a	241.5 GB	n/a	n/a
GLM 4.5	358.34B	Will not run	n/a	204.77 GB	n/a	n/a
Qwen3 235B A22B	235.09B	Will not run	n/a	134.03 GB	n/a	n/a
MiniMax M2.5	228.7B	Will not run	n/a	130.88 GB	n/a	n/a
MiniMax M2.7	228.69B	Will not run	n/a	130.87 GB	n/a	n/a

What it will not run

22 of the 86 architectures we track are out of reach here, even at 2-bit precision.

If you want more headroom

The next steps up in memory, in order. More memory changes which models load at all; more bandwidth changes how fast they answer, so the two are worth weighing separately.

Device	Memory	Bandwidth	Models that fit
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 64GB	64 GB	256 GB/s	66	Check price
Jetson AGX Orin 64GB	64 GB	204.8 GB/s	66	Check price
RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell	96 GB	1792 GB/s	76	Check price
Ryzen AI Max+ 395 96GB	96 GB	256 GB/s	69	Check price

Price links go to an Amazon search for the model name and are affiliate links: if you buy through one, we earn a commission at no cost to you. We do not take payment for placement, and the ordering above is by memory capacity alone.

Other devices with 48 GB

Same capacity, different speed. Once a model fits, bandwidth is what separates these.

RTX 6000 Ada Generation

960 GB/s · NVIDIA

Radeon PRO W7900

864 GB/s · AMD

RTX A6000

768 GB/s · NVIDIA

Apple M4 Max 48GB

546 GB/s · Apple

Apple M3 Max 48GB

400 GB/s · Apple

Questions people ask about an Apple M4 Pro 48GB

How much VRAM does an Apple M4 Pro 48GB have?

The Apple M4 Pro 48GB has 48 GB of unified memory shared with the CPU, of which roughly 36 GB is available to a model once the operating system takes its share.

Can an Apple M4 Pro 48GB run a 70B model?

Yes, once the macOS GPU memory limit is raised. At IQ4_XS it needs 39.99 GB and runs at around 58.8 tokens per second.

What is the best local model for an Apple M4 Pro 48GB?

Gemma 4 26B A4B Instruct at Q8_0 is the strongest all-round fit: 26.69 GB used, around 23.8 tokens per second at 8k context.