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Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU): 36 GB, what it runs and what it costs

Specs checked · Aliteq Team · How we compute this

The short answer

The Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU) has 36 GB of VRAM and 410 GB/s of memory bandwidth (2024). At Q4_K_M quality or better with an 8K context it runs 32 of the open models we track; the largest that fits with room to spare is Qwen3.6 35B-A3B (MoE). We don't see it for rent on the providers we track right now.

VRAM
36 GB
Bandwidth
410 GB/s
Board power
—
Launched
2024

Source: Apple specification · bandwidth not yet confirmed by a second source, so we don't estimate speed from it

Buy it or rent it

Not for rent on the providers we track right now. See every card that is.

Which AI models run on the Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU)

Computed by our VRAM engine for an 8K context: the best quality each model fits at in 36 GB. Speeds are upper-bound estimates from memory bandwidth, not benchmarks.

ModelBest fitVRAM used~tok/s
Mixtral 8x7B (MoE)Q5_K_M33 GB91% · tight—
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B (MoE)Q6_K28 GB79%—
Ornith-1.5 35B-A3B (MoE)Q6_K28 GB79%—
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B (MoE)Q6_K28 GB79%—
DeepSeek R1 Distill 32BQ8_035 GB98% · tight—
Qwen2.5 Coder 32BQ8_035 GB98% · tight—
Qwen2.5 32B InstructQ8_035 GB98% · tight—
Qwen3 32BQ8_035 GB98% · tight—
NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Nano 30B-A3B (MoE)Q8_032 GB89%—
Gemma 4 31BQ8_032 GB90%—
Qwen3 30B-A3B (MoE)Q8_032 GB88%—
Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B (MoE)Q8_032 GB88%—

Fits only below Q4 quality: Qwen3-Next 80B-A3B (MoE) (Q2_K), Qwen3-Coder-Next 80B-A3B (MoE) (Q2_K), DeepSeek R1 Distill 70B (Q3_K_M).

Too big for 36 GB (rent a bigger card instead): what it costs to run GLM-4.5-Air (MoE), what it costs to run Llama 4 Scout 17B-16E (MoE), what it costs to run gpt-oss 120B (MoE), what it costs to run NVIDIA Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B (MoE).

Check a model and context of your own in the VRAM calculator.

Our guides on the Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU)

Cards to compare it with

Every card by VRAM tier: all GPUs for gaming and local AI.

Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU): common questions

How much VRAM does the Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU) have?
36 GB, with 410 GB/s of memory bandwidth, per the maker's specification.
What is the biggest AI model the Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU) can run?
Of the open models we track, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B (MoE) is the largest that fits at Q4_K_M or better with an 8K context and room to spare (about 28 GB of 36 GB). Mixtral 8x7B (MoE) also squeezes in, but with almost no memory left for longer context. Bigger models only fit at lower-quality quants or need more memory.
Can I rent an Apple M4 Max (14-core CPU / 32-core GPU) in the cloud?
We don't see it on Vast.ai, Runpod or the other providers we track right now. The cloud GPU table lists every card that is for rent.
Is 36 GB enough?
Top-end gaming and workstation cards; 70B-class models at low-bit quants.