Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (2020, M1): which AI models can it run?
Estimated from the specifications below. Choose the memory size you have or plan to buy, then read the table for that size.
Specifications
- Brand
- Apple
- Year
- 2020
- Chip
- Apple M1
- Processor
- 8-core CPU
- Graphics
- 7-core or 8-core GPU
- Memory type
- unified memory
- Memory options
- 8 GB, 16 GB
- Memory bandwidth
- not known
Sources: https://support.apple.com/en-us/111883
Apple lists 8GB, configurable to 16GB. The page gives no memory bandwidth figure, so it is left empty.
Speed is not known for this laptop. We have no sourced memory bandwidth figure, so the tables show fit only.
With 8 GB of memory
About 5.6 GB of it can hold a model.
| Model | Fit | Needs (GB) | Writing speed (tokens per second) | Speed | Quality | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.2 3B llama3.2:3b Speed is not known: no sourced memory bandwidth for this laptop. |
Fits | 5 | not known | Not known | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 4B qwen3:4b |
Won't fit | 6 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 4B gemma3:4b |
Won't fit | 6.7 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Mistral 7B v0.3 mistral:7b |
Won't fit | 7.8 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Llama 3.1 8B llama3.1:8b |
Won't fit | 8.3 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 8B qwen3:8b |
Won't fit | 8.9 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 12B gemma3:12b |
Won't fit | 15.9 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill Qwen 14B deepseek-r1:14b |
Won't fit | 13.7 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Phi-4 14B phi4:14b |
Won't fit | 13.9 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 14B qwen3:14b |
Won't fit | 13.4 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| gpt-oss 20B gpt-oss:20b |
Won't fit | 16.5 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 27B gemma3:27b |
Won't fit | 27.2 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 30B (A3B) qwen3:30b |
Won't fit | 22.6 | not known | n/a | 9.3/10 | Estimated |
| Qwen3 32B qwen3:32b |
Won't fit | 26.3 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Llama 3.1 70B llama3.1:70b |
Won't fit | 51.5 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| gpt-oss 120B gpt-oss:120b |
Won't fit | 70.5 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
With 16 GB of memory
About 11.2 GB of it can hold a model.
| Model | Fit | Needs (GB) | Writing speed (tokens per second) | Speed | Quality | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.2 3B llama3.2:3b Speed is not known: no sourced memory bandwidth for this laptop. |
Fits | 5 | not known | Not known | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 4B qwen3:4b · thinks first Speed is not known: no sourced memory bandwidth for this laptop. |
Fits | 6 | not known | Not known | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 4B gemma3:4b Speed is not known: no sourced memory bandwidth for this laptop. |
Fits | 6.7 | not known | Not known | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Mistral 7B v0.3 mistral:7b Speed is not known: no sourced memory bandwidth for this laptop. |
Fits | 7.8 | not known | Not known | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Llama 3.1 8B llama3.1:8b Speed is not known: no sourced memory bandwidth for this laptop. |
Fits | 8.3 | not known | Not known | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 8B qwen3:8b · thinks first Speed is not known: no sourced memory bandwidth for this laptop. |
Fits | 8.9 | not known | Not known | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 12B gemma3:12b |
Won't fit | 15.9 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill Qwen 14B deepseek-r1:14b |
Won't fit | 13.7 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Phi-4 14B phi4:14b |
Won't fit | 13.9 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 14B qwen3:14b |
Won't fit | 13.4 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| gpt-oss 20B gpt-oss:20b |
Won't fit | 16.5 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 27B gemma3:27b |
Won't fit | 27.2 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 30B (A3B) qwen3:30b |
Won't fit | 22.6 | not known | n/a | 9.3/10 | Estimated |
| Qwen3 32B qwen3:32b |
Won't fit | 26.3 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Llama 3.1 70B llama3.1:70b |
Won't fit | 51.5 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
| gpt-oss 120B gpt-oss:120b |
Won't fit | 70.5 | not known | n/a | not measured yet | Estimated |
Models marked "thinks first" can write out their reasoning before they answer, so a job takes longer than the speed alone suggests.
Reported by others
Other people ran the standard llama-bench test on this chip and published the results. They are not Findra scores. The test uses a small 7-billion-parameter model, so larger models will be slower than these figures. All published benchmarks.
| Setup | Model and size | Writing speed (tokens per second) | Reading speed (tokens per second) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 graphics cores | Llama 2 7B, Q8_0 | 7.9 | 108 | llama.cpp discussion 4167 read 2026-10-10 |
| 7 graphics cores | Llama 2 7B, Q4_0 | 14.2 | 108 | llama.cpp discussion 4167 read 2026-10-10 |
| 8 graphics cores | Llama 2 7B, Q8_0 | 7.9 | 117 | llama.cpp discussion 4167 read 2026-10-10 |
| 8 graphics cores | Llama 2 7B, Q4_0 | 14.2 | 118 | llama.cpp discussion 4167 read 2026-10-10 |
Reported by others, not tested by us. Results come from a public community thread; builds and settings differ between submitters.
Rendering speed (Blender Open Data)
Blender Open Data publishes the median render score of the Cycles test for each chip, from results people submitted. Higher is faster. These are not Findra scores; the table says what each score was rendered on. Scores from different Blender versions are not directly comparable.
| Chip | Rendered on | Score | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple M1 | processor, Blender 5.2.0 | 99 | Blender Open Data read 2026-10-22 |
Editing, gaming, CAD and other work
Each app below publishes a minimum and a recommended system requirement. We compare them with this laptop's memory and graphics memory. We do not judge the graphics chip's class, the processor generation or the operating system, because the makers describe those in words: check the source link for the exact card, processor and system they name. Many apps and games run only on Windows or only on macOS. Integrated graphics count as below any requirement for a dedicated card. Not known means the maker does not state this laptop's graphics memory.
| App | 8 GB | 16 GB |
|---|---|---|
| Video editing | ||
| Adobe Premiere Pro | Minimum | Recommended |
| Adobe After Effects | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Final Cut Pro | Minimum | Recommended |
| OBS Studio | Minimum | Minimum |
| Photo editing and design | ||
| Adobe Photoshop | Minimum | Recommended |
| Adobe Lightroom Classic | Minimum | Recommended |
| Adobe Illustrator | Minimum | Recommended |
| 3D, CAD and rendering | ||
| Blender | Minimum | Minimum |
| Autodesk AutoCAD | Below minimum | Minimum |
| SOLIDWORKS | Below minimum | Minimum |
| Autodesk Fusion | Minimum | Minimum |
| Autodesk Revit | Below minimum | Minimum |
| SketchUp | Minimum | Minimum |
| Autodesk Maya | Minimum | Recommended |
| Maxon Cinema 4D | Recommended | Recommended |
| Rhino | Recommended | Recommended |
| KeyShot Studio | Minimum | Recommended |
| Unreal Engine 5 editor | Below minimum | Below minimum |
| Unity editor | Minimum | Minimum |
| Gaming | ||
| Cyberpunk 2077 | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Baldur's Gate 3 | Minimum | Recommended |
| Elden Ring | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Black Myth: Wukong | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Starfield | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Hogwarts Legacy | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Counter-Strike 2 | Minimum | Minimum |
| Fortnite | Minimum | Recommended |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | Minimum | Recommended |
| Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 | Below minimum | Minimum |
| Alan Wake 2 | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Forza Horizon 5 | Minimum | Recommended |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | Minimum | Recommended |
| Grand Theft Auto V | Recommended | Recommended |
| Marvel Rivals | Below minimum | Recommended |
| Helldivers 2 | Minimum | Recommended |
| Hades II | Minimum | Recommended |
| Stardew Valley | Minimum | Minimum |
| Minecraft Java Edition | Below minimum | Recommended |
| AI image and video generation | ||
| InvokeAI with SD 1.5 models | Minimum | Minimum |
| InvokeAI with SDXL models | Below minimum | Minimum |
| InvokeAI with FLUX.1 models | Below minimum | Below minimum |
| Music and audio production | ||
| Ableton Live 12 | Minimum | Minimum |
| FL Studio | Minimum | Minimum |
| Logic Pro | Minimum | Minimum |
| Pro Tools | Below minimum | Minimum |
| Steinberg Cubase | Minimum | Minimum |
Labels follow the makers' published lists. All use cases.
Speed is the speed of writing an answer, shown as a range. Reading speed is not estimated. How the estimates work · How close they are · Back to the finder