Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (2021, M1 Max): 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
- 2021
- Chip
- Apple M1 Max
- Processor
- 10-core CPU
- Graphics
- 32-core GPU
- Memory type
- unified memory
- Memory options
- 32 GB, 64 GB
- Memory bandwidth
- 400 GB/s
Sources: https://support.apple.com/en-us/111901
The 14-inch (2021) offers the same chip. Apple lists 400GB/s for M1 Max and 32GB base memory, configurable to 64GB.
With 32 GB of memory
About 22.4 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 |
Fits | 5 | 70 to 130 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 4B qwen3:4b · thinks first |
Fits | 6 | 56 to 104 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 4B gemma3:4b |
Fits | 6.7 | 42 to 79 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Mistral 7B v0.3 mistral:7b |
Fits | 7.8 | 32 to 59 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Llama 3.1 8B llama3.1:8b |
Fits | 8.3 | 29 to 53 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 8B qwen3:8b · thinks first |
Fits | 8.9 | 27 to 50 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 12B gemma3:12b |
Fits | 15.9 | 17 to 32 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill Qwen 14B deepseek-r1:14b · thinks first |
Fits | 13.7 | 16 to 29 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Phi-4 14B phi4:14b |
Fits | 13.9 | 15 to 29 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 14B qwen3:14b · thinks first |
Fits | 13.4 | 15 to 28 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| gpt-oss 20B gpt-oss:20b · thinks first |
Fits | 16.5 | 35 to 65 | Fast | 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.
With 64 GB of memory
About 44.8 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 |
Fits | 5 | 70 to 130 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 4B qwen3:4b · thinks first |
Fits | 6 | 56 to 104 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 4B gemma3:4b |
Fits | 6.7 | 42 to 79 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Mistral 7B v0.3 mistral:7b |
Fits | 7.8 | 32 to 59 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Llama 3.1 8B llama3.1:8b |
Fits | 8.3 | 29 to 53 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 8B qwen3:8b · thinks first |
Fits | 8.9 | 27 to 50 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 12B gemma3:12b |
Fits | 15.9 | 17 to 32 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| DeepSeek-R1 Distill Qwen 14B deepseek-r1:14b · thinks first |
Fits | 13.7 | 16 to 29 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Phi-4 14B phi4:14b |
Fits | 13.9 | 15 to 29 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 14B qwen3:14b · thinks first |
Fits | 13.4 | 15 to 28 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| gpt-oss 20B gpt-oss:20b · thinks first |
Fits | 16.5 | 35 to 65 | Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Gemma 3 27B gemma3:27b |
Fits | 27.2 | 8.2 to 15 | Unclear could be Moderate or Fast | not measured yet | Estimated |
| Qwen3 30B (A3B) qwen3:30b · thinks first |
Fits | 22.6 | 41 to 62 | Fast | 9.3/10 | Measured Scorecard |
| Qwen3 32B qwen3:32b · thinks first |
Fits | 26.3 | 7 to 13 | Unclear could be Moderate or Fast | 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.
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