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Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (Nov 2023, M3 Max 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU): 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
2023
Chip
Apple M3 Max
Processor
16-core CPU (12 performance, 4 efficiency)
Graphics
40-core GPU
Memory type
unified memory
Memory options
48 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB
Memory bandwidth
400 GB/s

Sources: https://support.apple.com/en-us/117737

Apple lists 400GB/s for this variant.

With 48 GB of memory

About 33.6 GB of it can hold a model.

ModelFitNeeds (GB)Writing speed (tokens per second)SpeedQualityBasis
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 76 Fast 9.3/10 Estimated
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.

With 64 GB of memory

About 44.8 GB of it can hold a model.

ModelFitNeeds (GB)Writing speed (tokens per second)SpeedQualityBasis
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 76 Fast 9.3/10 Estimated
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.

With 128 GB of memory

About 89.6 GB of it can hold a model.

ModelFitNeeds (GB)Writing speed (tokens per second)SpeedQualityBasis
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 76 Fast 9.3/10 Estimated
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		 Fits 51.5 3.3 to 6 Unclear could be Slow or Moderate not measured yet Estimated
gpt-oss 120B
gpt-oss:120b · thinks first		 Fits 70.5 30 to 55 Fast 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