Your rig

M1 Max · 64 GB · 64 GB

64 GB unified · 400 GB/s · 48.0 GB addressable by the GPU
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Context length

KV cache at f16, 4K tokens

Quality floor
Q8_0 — near-lossless Q6_K Q5_K_M Q4_K_M — recommended Q3_K_M Q2_K — damaged
KV cache type
Runtime
Ollamallama.cppLM StudioMLX

4 of 5 runtimes drive this device.

Allow CPU offload Include partial-offload fits

Offloaded layers run at 60 GB/s host bandwidth — expect single-digit tokens per second.

Which one should I actually run?

Best models for your M1 Max · 64 GB

Updated 21 Aug 2026 5 new this week, 14 this month

What do you want to do? Each row is the best-ranked model on that use case's shortlist that fits at Q4_K_M and 4K. The ordering is editorial; the sizes and speeds are computed. How the shortlists work.

RecommendationModelWhyQuant · totalTok/s est.
Best overall Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Best capability per gigabyte: a current-generation dense 27B with vision and 262K context. Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB 14 Runs great
Best for coding Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Terminal-Bench 73, DeepSWE 42 — a generation ahead of anything else that fits 24 GB. Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB 14 Runs great
Best reasoning Gemma 4 31B
Google · Apache 2.0
89% AIME — the strongest maths of any model under 32B. Q4_K_M · 19.6 GB 13 Runs great
Best for writing Gemma 4 31B
Google · Apache 2.0
The cleanest, least verbose prose of the 2026 24–32 GB class. Q4_K_M · 19.6 GB 13 Runs great
Best vision Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Image and video in, OSWorld 84 — the strongest local vision-language model at 24 GB. Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB 14 Runs great
Best for agents Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
Computer use and tool calling are what 3.8 was trained for (OSWorld 84). Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB 14 Runs great
Best translation Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
119 languages, and Qwen translations read as idiomatic rather than literal. Q4_K_M · 16.5 GB 14 Runs great
Fastest good model Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
3.3B active per token: the fastest model that still competes with dense 27Bs. Q4_K_M · 20.9 GB 56 Runs great
Best long context Qwen3.8 27B New this week
Alibaba · Apache 2.0
262K native, and only 16 of 64 blocks keep a KV cache — long context is cheap here. Q4_K_M · 24.2 GB
at 128K context
14 Runs great

Everything that fits

Runs great

58 of 76 · fits with headroom for a longer prompt
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal VRAM headroom Tok/sRuntime
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 20.2 GB 0.08 GB 20.9 GB
27.1 GB free
56 MLX Run
Ornith 1.5 35B-A3B New this week 35.9B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 20.2 GB 0.08 GB 20.9 GB
27.1 GB free
56 MLX Run
LLM-jp 4 33B Thinking New this week 33.2B Q4_K_M 18.7 GB 1.00 GB 20.3 GB
27.7 GB free
12 MLX Run
Qwen3 32B 32.8B Q4_K_M 18.4 GB 1.00 GB 20.0 GB
28.0 GB free
12 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 32B 32.8B Q4_K_M 18.4 GB 1.00 GB 20.0 GB
28.0 GB free
12 MLX Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 32B 32.8B Q4_K_M 18.4 GB 1.00 GB 20.0 GB
28.0 GB free
12 MLX Run
Olmo 3.1 32B Instruct 32.2B Q4_K_M 18.1 GB 1.00 GB 19.7 GB
28.3 GB free
12 MLX Run
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B New 31.6B MoE / 3.2B act Q4_K_M 17.8 GB 0.02 GB 18.4 GB
29.6 GB free
58 MLX Run
Gemma 4 31B 31.3B Q4_K_M 17.6 GB 1.41 GB 19.6 GB
28.4 GB free
13 MLX Run
GLM-4.7-Flash 30B-A3B 31.2B MoE / 3B act Q4_K_M 17.5 GB 0.21 GB 18.3 GB
29.7 GB free
62 MLX Run
Qwen3 30B-A3B 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 17.1 GB 0.38 GB 18.1 GB
29.9 GB free
56 MLX Run
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B 30.5B MoE / 3.3B act Q4_K_M 17.1 GB 0.38 GB 18.1 GB
29.9 GB free
56 MLX Run
Muse Glimmer 30B New 29.8B Q4_K_M 16.8 GB 0.13 GB 17.5 GB
30.5 GB free
13 MLX Run
Granite 4.1 30B 28.9B Q4_K_M 16.3 GB 1.00 GB 17.9 GB
30.1 GB free
14 MLX Run
Qwen3.8 27B New this week 27.8B Q4_K_M 15.6 GB 0.25 GB 16.5 GB
31.5 GB free
14 MLX Run
Qwen3.6 27B 27.8B Q4_K_M 15.6 GB 0.25 GB 16.5 GB
31.5 GB free
14 MLX Run
Gemma 3 27B 27.4B Q4_K_M 15.4 GB 0.72 GB 16.7 GB
31.3 GB free
15 MLX Run
Gemma 4 26B-A4B 26.5B MoE / 3.8B act Q4_K_M 14.9 GB 0.35 GB 15.9 GB
32.1 GB free
49 MLX Run
Devstral Small 2 24B 24B Q4_K_M 13.5 GB 0.63 GB 14.7 GB
33.3 GB free
17 MLX Run
Mistral Small 3.2 24B 23.6B Q4_K_M 13.3 GB 0.63 GB 14.5 GB
33.5 GB free
17 MLX Run
gpt-oss 20B 20.9B MoE / 3.6B act MXFP4 10.8 GB 0.10 GB 11.5 GB
36.5 GB free
56 MLX Run
Qwen3 14B 14.8B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.63 GB 9.5 GB
38.5 GB free
27 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 14B 14.8B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.75 GB 9.7 GB
38.3 GB free
27 MLX Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 14B 14.8B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.75 GB 9.7 GB
38.3 GB free
27 MLX Run
Phi-4 14B 14.7B Q4_K_M 8.3 GB 0.78 GB 9.6 GB
38.4 GB free
27 MLX Run
Ministral 3 14B 13.9B Q4_K_M 7.8 GB 0.63 GB 9.0 GB
39.0 GB free
29 MLX Run
Gemma 3 12B 12.2B Q4_K_M 6.9 GB 0.56 GB 8.0 GB
40.0 GB free
33 MLX Run
Mistral NeMo 12B 12.2B Q4_K_M 6.9 GB 0.63 GB 8.1 GB
39.9 GB free
33 MLX Run
Gemma 4 12B 12B Q4_K_M 6.7 GB 0.56 GB 7.9 GB
40.1 GB free
33 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 9B 9.65B Q4_K_M 5.4 GB 0.13 GB 6.2 GB
41.8 GB free
41 MLX Run
Ornith 1.5 9B New this week 9.41B Q4_K_M 5.3 GB 0.13 GB 6.0 GB
42.0 GB free
42 MLX Run
Ministral 3 8B 8.92B Q4_K_M 5.0 GB 0.53 GB 6.1 GB
41.9 GB free
45 MLX Run
Granite 4.1 8B 8.79B Q4_K_M 4.9 GB 0.63 GB 6.2 GB
41.8 GB free
45 MLX Run
LFM2.5 8B-A1B 8.47B MoE / 1.5B act Q4_K_M 4.8 GB 0.05 GB 5.4 GB
42.6 GB free
124 MLX Run
Fara 7B 8.29B Q4_K_M 4.7 GB 0.22 GB 5.5 GB
42.5 GB free
48 MLX Run
Qwen3 8B 8.19B Q4_K_M 4.6 GB 0.56 GB 5.8 GB
42.2 GB free
49 MLX Run
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct 8.03B Q4_K_M 4.5 GB 0.50 GB 5.6 GB
42.4 GB free
50 MLX Run
Gemma 4 E4B 8.0B Q4_K_M 4.5 GB 0.09 GB 5.2 GB
42.8 GB free
50 MLX Run
Ling 3.0 Tiny 7.9B-A1.3B New 7.9B MoE / 1.3B act Q4_K_M 4.4 GB 0.03 GB 5.1 GB
42.9 GB free
143 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen 7B 7.62B Q4_K_M 4.3 GB 0.22 GB 5.1 GB
42.9 GB free
52 MLX Run
Qwen2.5-Coder 7B 7.62B Q4_K_M 4.3 GB 0.22 GB 5.1 GB
42.9 GB free
52 MLX Run
Olmo 3 7B Instruct 7.3B Q4_K_M 4.1 GB 2.00 GB 6.7 GB
41.3 GB free
54 MLX Run
Mistral 7B Instruct v0.3 7.25B Q4_K_M 4.1 GB 0.50 GB 5.2 GB
42.8 GB free
55 MLX Run
Gemma 4 E2B 5.1B Q4_K_M 2.9 GB 0.04 GB 3.5 GB
44.5 GB free
78 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 4B 4.66B Q4_K_M 2.6 GB 0.13 GB 3.3 GB
44.7 GB free
85 MLX Run
Gemma 3 4B 4.3B Q4_K_M 2.4 GB 0.20 GB 3.2 GB
44.8 GB free
92 MLX Run
Qwen3 4B 4.02B Q4_K_M 2.3 GB 0.56 GB 3.4 GB
44.6 GB free
99 MLX Run
Ministral 3 3B 3.85B Q4_K_M 2.2 GB 0.41 GB 3.2 GB
44.8 GB free
103 MLX Run
Phi-4-mini 3.8B 3.84B Q4_K_M 2.2 GB 0.50 GB 3.3 GB
44.7 GB free
104 MLX Run
Granite 4.1 3B 3.4B Q4_K_M 1.9 GB 0.31 GB 2.8 GB
45.2 GB free
117 MLX Run
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct 3.21B Q4_K_M 1.8 GB 0.44 GB 2.8 GB
45.2 GB free
124 MLX Run
LFM2.5 2.6B New 2.7B Q4_K_M 1.5 GB 0.06 GB 2.2 GB
45.8 GB free
147 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 2B 2.27B Q4_K_M 1.3 GB 0.05 GB 1.9 GB
46.1 GB free
175 MLX Run
Qwen3 1.7B 1.72B Q4_K_M 1.0 GB 0.44 GB 2.0 GB
46.0 GB free
231 MLX Run
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct 1.24B Q4_K_M 0.7 GB 0.13 GB 1.4 GB
46.6 GB free
321 MLX Run
Gemma 3 1B 1.0B Q4_K_M 0.6 GB 0.03 GB 1.2 GB
46.8 GB free
398 MLX Run
Qwen3.5 0.8B 0.87B Q4_K_M 0.5 GB 0.05 GB 1.1 GB
46.9 GB free
457 MLX Run
Qwen3 0.6B 0.6B Q4_K_M 0.3 GB 0.44 GB 1.4 GB
46.6 GB free
663 MLX Run

Runs — tight

2 models · fits at 4K, drop context or quant to go longer
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal VRAM headroom Tok/sRuntime
Llama 3.3 70B Instruct 70.6B Q4_K_M 39.7 GB 1.25 GB 41.5 GB
6.5 GB free
5.6 MLX Run
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama 70B 70.6B Q4_K_M 39.7 GB 1.25 GB 41.5 GB
6.5 GB free
5.6 MLX Run

Won't fit in VRAM

16 models · some are possible with CPU offload
ModelParamsQuantWeights +KV 4KTotal Over budget Tok/sRuntime
Kimi K3 2.8T-A104B New 2780B MoE / 104B act Q4_K_M 1563.2 GB 0.11 GB 1563.9 GB +1515.9 GB ~1.8 MLX Why
Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95B New 2446B MoE / 95B act Q4_K_M 1375.4 GB 0.36 GB 1376.3 GB +1328.3 GB ~2.0 MLX Why
DeepSeek V4 Pro 1.6T-A49B New 1650B MoE / 49B act Q4_K_M 927.8 GB 0.27 GB 928.6 GB +880.6 GB ~3.8 MLX Why
Kimi K2.6 1T-A32B 1027B MoE / 32B act Q4_K_M 577.5 GB 0.27 GB 578.3 GB +530.3 GB ~5.8 MLX Why
GLM-5.2 744B-A40B 753B MoE / 40B act Q4_K_M 423.4 GB 0.34 GB 424.3 GB +376.3 GB ~4.6 MLX Why
DeepSeek-R1 671B 671B MoE / 37B act Q4_K_M 377.3 GB 0.27 GB 378.2 GB +330.2 GB ~5.0 MLX Why
Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 403B MoE / 17B act Q4_K_M 226.6 GB 0.12 GB 227.3 GB +179.3 GB ~11 MLX Why
Ornith 1.5 397B-A17B New this week 397B MoE / 17B act Q4_K_M 223.2 GB 0.12 GB 223.9 GB +175.9 GB ~11 MLX Why
DeepSeek V4 Flash 284B-A13B New 284B MoE / 13B act Q4_K_M 159.7 GB 0.19 GB 160.5 GB +112.5 GB ~14 MLX Why
Qwen3 235B-A22B 235B MoE / 22B act Q4_K_M 132.1 GB 0.73 GB 133.5 GB +85.5 GB ~8.4 MLX Why
Qwen3.5 122B-A10B 125B MoE / 10B act Q4_K_M 70.3 GB 0.09 GB 71.0 GB +23.0 GB ~19 MLX Why
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B 124B MoE / 12B act Q4_K_M 69.7 GB 0.03 GB 70.4 GB +22.4 GB ~15 MLX Why
Ling 3.0 Flash 124B-A5B New 124B MoE / 5.1B act Q4_K_M 69.7 GB 0.03 GB 70.4 GB +22.4 GB ~36 MLX Why
Mistral Small 4 119B-A6B 119B MoE / 6.5B act Q4_K_M 66.9 GB 0.09 GB 67.6 GB +19.6 GB ~29 MLX Why
gpt-oss 120B 117B MoE / 5.1B act MXFP4 60.5 GB 0.15 GB 61.3 GB +13.3 GB ~39 MLX Why
Llama 4 Scout 109B-A17B 109B MoE / 17B act Q4_K_M 61.3 GB 0.75 GB 62.6 GB +14.6 GB ~11 MLX Why

Totals = quantised weights + f16 KV cache at 4K tokens + 0.6 GB runtime overhead, against 48.0 GB usable unified memory. Tokens per second are estimated from 400 GB/s peak memory bandwidth at batch 1 — not measured. Read the method.