← All MacBook Pro 14" models

MacBook Pro 14" M4 Pro

The M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14" runs local models at 273 GB/s of memory bandwidth with 24 to 48 GB of unified memory. On Apple Silicon that memory is shared with the GPU, so the whole pool is available for weights: at 48 GB you can hold roughly a 63B dense model at Q4. The Pro roughly doubles the base chip's memory bus. That moves mid-size models from usable to comfortable without moving you into desktop money.

Apple no longer sells this configuration new. It stays fully evaluated here because the used market is where most of its local AI value now sits.

Specifications

ChipApple M4 Pro
CPU cores12 or 14
GPU cores16 or 20
Unified memory24 or 48 GB
Memory bandwidth273 GB/s
Neural Engine38 TOPS
Released2024
AvailabilityUsed market

Memory bandwidth is faster than 44% of the Apple Silicon chips shipped in a Mac, against a 819 GB/s peak.

Its memory ceiling is above 44% of them, against a 512 GB peak.

Pick your configuration

Every option Apple sells with this chip. The model list below recomputes against the one you pick.

GPU cores

Unified memory

What each memory option runs

Unified memory is the ceiling and it is soldered, so this is the decision you cannot revisit.

24 GB unified memory

21 GB usable for weights · 273 GB/s

3,352 of 3,641 models fit, and 3,007 of them run with headroom rather than as a squeeze.

Largest model at Q4
Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct · 31.07B
Best all-round pick
Qwen3.5 0.8B · Q8_0 · ~164 tok/s

48 GB unified memory

42 GB usable for weights · 273 GB/s

3,503 of 3,641 models fit, and 3,351 of them run with headroom rather than as a squeeze.

Largest model at Q4
Yi 34Bx2 MoE 60B DPO · 60.81B
Best all-round pick
Qwen3.5 0.8B · Q8_0 · ~164 tok/s

What a 24 GB M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14" can run

Every model in the database against this exact configuration, at 273 GB/s. Ratings and speeds are the same numbers the model pages show.

Showing 3641 of 3641 models

Multimodal · Alibaba · 2026-02-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.5 GB6% of RAM~164 tok/sEstimated0.87B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Alibaba · 2026-02-28

Q8_0Excellent
3.0 GB13% of RAM~63 tok/sEstimated2.27B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Alibaba · 2026-02-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.5 GB6% of RAM~164 tok/sEstimated0.87B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Alibaba · 2026-02-28

Q8_0Excellent
3.0 GB13% of RAM~63 tok/sEstimated2.27B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Alibaba · 2026-02-27

Q8_0Excellent
5.7 GB24% of RAM~31 tok/sEstimated4.66B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Alibaba · 2026-02-27

Q8_0Excellent
5.7 GB24% of RAM~31 tok/sEstimated4.66B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
9.8 GB41% of RAMBenchmark needed8.3B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
3.4 GB14% of RAM~56 tok/sEstimated2.57B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.3 GB6% of RAM~193 tok/sEstimated0.74B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
3.4 GB14% of RAM~56 tok/sEstimated2.57B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite · 2025-09-16

Q8_0Excellent
8.2 GB34% of RAMBenchmark needed6.94B params
Run with ToolPiper

Chat · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

Chat · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · NCAI · 2025-12-29

Q8_0Excellent
8.6 GB36% of RAMBenchmark needed7.25B params
Run with ToolPiper

Chat · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
3.4 GB14% of RAM~56 tok/sEstimated2.57B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite · 2025-09-16

Q8_0Excellent
4.1 GB17% of RAM~45 tok/sEstimated3.19B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~95 tok/sEstimated1.5B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~95 tok/sEstimated1.5B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · NCAI · 2025-12-29

Q8_0Excellent
9.0 GB37% of RAMBenchmark needed7.58B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · HuggingFace · 2025-07-08

Q8_0Excellent
3.8 GB16% of RAM~48 tok/sEstimated3B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
1.0 GB4% of RAM~318 tok/sEstimated0.45B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
2.3 GB10% of RAM~89 tok/sEstimated1.6B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
2.3 GB9% of RAM~91 tok/sEstimated1.58B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · jackrong · 2026-03-16

Q8_0Excellent
11.3 GB47% of RAM~15 tok/sEstimated9.65B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Google · 2025-07-30

Q8_0Excellent
6.2 GB26% of RAM~28 tok/sEstimated5.1B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Google · 2025-06-25

Q8_0Excellent
5.0 GB21% of RAM~36 tok/sEstimated4B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · LG AI · 2025-07-15

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~119 tok/sEstimated1.2B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Liquid AI · 2025-11-28

Q8_0Excellent
3.8 GB16% of RAM~48 tok/sEstimated3B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · lgai-exaone · 2025-03-12

Q8_0Excellent
3.2 GB13% of RAM~59 tok/sEstimated2.41B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · raidium · 2026-06-15

Q8_0Excellent
0.5 GB2% of RAM~7,150 tok/sEstimated0.02B params
Run with ToolPiper

Embedding · taide · 2026-06-12

Q8_0Excellent
0.8 GB3% of RAM~477 tok/sEstimated0.3B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Alibaba · 2025-04-27

Q8_0Excellent
1.3 GB6% of RAM~191 tok/sEstimated0.75B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Alibaba · 2025-04-27

Q8_0Excellent
2.8 GB12% of RAM~70 tok/sEstimated2.03B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · zai-org

Q8_0Excellent
2.0 GB8% of RAM~108 tok/sEstimated1.33B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Alibaba

Q8_0Excellent
2.9 GB12% of RAM~67 tok/sEstimated2.13B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Alibaba

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~93 tok/sEstimated1.54B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Alibaba

Q8_0Excellent
1.0 GB4% of RAM~292 tok/sEstimated0.49B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · openbmb

Q8_0Excellent
2.0 GB8% of RAM~110 tok/sEstimated1.3B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · DeepSeek

Q8_0Excellent
2.5 GB10% of RAM~80 tok/sEstimated1.78B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · datalab-to

Q8_0Excellent
1.3 GB5% of RAM~207 tok/sEstimated0.69B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · openbmb

Q8_0Excellent
1.7 GB7% of RAM~132 tok/sEstimated1.08B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · hmellor

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~115 tok/sEstimated1.24B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · distil-labs

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · farbodtavakkoli

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~118 tok/sEstimated1.21B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI

Q8_0Excellent
9.9 GB41% of RAMBenchmark needed8.47B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
7.9 GB33% of RAMBenchmark needed6.67B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
0.5 GB2% of RAM~14,300 tok/sEstimated0.01B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · lkhl

Q8_0Excellent
2.7 GB11% of RAM~73 tok/sEstimated1.96B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · jinaai

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~93 tok/sEstimated1.54B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Alibaba

Q8_0Excellent
2.9 GB12% of RAM~67 tok/sEstimated2.13B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · typhoon-ai

Q8_0Excellent
2.9 GB12% of RAM~67 tok/sEstimated2.13B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Upstage

Q8_0Excellent
9.5 GB40% of RAMBenchmark needed8.05B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · openai

Q8_0Excellent
3.1 GB13% of RAMBenchmark needed2.37B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · paddlepaddle

Q8_0Excellent
1.6 GB7% of RAM~149 tok/sEstimated0.96B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Liquid AI

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · pfnet

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~111 tok/sEstimated1.29B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · openbmb

Q8_0Excellent
1.7 GB7% of RAM~132 tok/sEstimated1.08B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · baidu

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~397 tok/sEstimated0.36B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · amd

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~95 tok/sEstimated1.5B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · bytedance-seed

Q8_0Excellent
11.0 GB46% of RAMBenchmark needed9.37B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · arcee-ai

Q8_0Excellent
7.3 GB31% of RAMBenchmark needed6.12B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · adamlucek

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~115 tok/sEstimated1.24B params
Run with ToolPiper

Coding · shahriarferdoush

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~115 tok/sEstimated1.24B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ahczhg

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~115 tok/sEstimated1.24B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · abaryan

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~115 tok/sEstimated1.24B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · etherll

Q8_0Excellent
1.3 GB6% of RAM~193 tok/sEstimated0.74B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · farbodtavakkoli

Q8_0Excellent
2.5 GB10% of RAMBenchmark needed1.77B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
4.0 GB17% of RAM~46 tok/sEstimated3.13B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · kamilamila

Q8_0Excellent
1.2 GB5% of RAM~231 tok/sEstimated0.62B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~95 tok/sEstimated1.5B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · paddlepaddle

Q8_0Excellent
1.6 GB7% of RAM~149 tok/sEstimated0.96B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · agentica-org

Q8_0Excellent
2.5 GB10% of RAM~80 tok/sEstimated1.78B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · novaciano

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~95 tok/sEstimated1.5B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · dmusingu

Q8_0Excellent
2.9 GB12% of RAM~67 tok/sEstimated2.13B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · kgrabko

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~95 tok/sEstimated1.5B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ordenwills

Q8_0Excellent
0.9 GB4% of RAM~409 tok/sEstimated0.35B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
2.1 GB9% of RAM~103 tok/sEstimated1.39B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · carsenk

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~115 tok/sEstimated1.24B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · nvidia

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~93 tok/sEstimated1.54B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · zero-point-ai

Q8_0Excellent
3.0 GB13% of RAM~63 tok/sEstimated2.27B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
2.0 GB8% of RAMBenchmark needed1.33B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · openbmb

Q8_0Excellent
2.0 GB8% of RAM~110 tok/sEstimated1.3B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
2.1 GB9% of RAM~98 tok/sEstimated1.46B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · osaurusai

Q8_0Excellent
11.3 GB47% of RAMBenchmark needed9.65B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · pyoakum

Q8_0Excellent
6.5 GB27% of RAMBenchmark needed5.35B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
4.2 GB17% of RAMBenchmark needed3.3B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
2.0 GB8% of RAM~110 tok/sEstimated1.3B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · tencent

Q8_0Excellent
2.7 GB11% of RAM~73 tok/sEstimated1.96B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · skis-ai-research

Q8_0Excellent
1.8 GB8% of RAM~122 tok/sEstimated1.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · menlo

Q8_0Excellent
2.4 GB10% of RAM~83 tok/sEstimated1.72B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · thkim0305

Q8_0Excellent
1.6 GB7% of RAM~143 tok/sEstimated1B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
1.5 GB6% of RAM~164 tok/sEstimated0.87B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · huihui-ai

Q8_0Excellent
3.0 GB13% of RAM~63 tok/sEstimated2.27B params
Run with ToolPiper

Coding · rahul7star

Q8_0Excellent
1.5 GB6% of RAM~164 tok/sEstimated0.87B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · inclusionai

Q8_0Excellent
3.2 GB13% of RAM~59 tok/sEstimated2.44B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · TII

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~92 tok/sEstimated1.55B params
Run with ToolPiper

Coding · z-lab

Q8_0Excellent
1.7 GB7% of RAM~132 tok/sEstimated1.08B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
6.9 GB29% of RAMBenchmark needed5.75B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · artificialguybr

Q8_0Excellent
1.9 GB8% of RAM~115 tok/sEstimated1.24B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Microsoft

Q8_0Excellent
0.7 GB3% of RAMBenchmark needed0.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · roystar

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~93 tok/sEstimated1.54B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · weiboai

Q8_0Excellent
2.5 GB10% of RAM~80 tok/sEstimated1.78B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · Microsoft

Q8_0Excellent
0.7 GB3% of RAMBenchmark needed0.17B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · TII

Q8_0Excellent
2.2 GB9% of RAM~92 tok/sEstimated1.55B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · tencent

Q8_0Excellent
1.1 GB5% of RAM~265 tok/sEstimated0.54B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · primeintellect

Q8_0Excellent
1.1 GB5% of RAMBenchmark needed0.54B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Alibaba

Q8_0Excellent
5.5 GB23% of RAM~32 tok/sEstimated4.44B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · Microsoft

Q8_0Excellent
5.1 GB21% of RAM~34 tok/sEstimated4.15B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · rednote-hilab

Q8_0Excellent
3.9 GB16% of RAM~47 tok/sEstimated3.04B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
4.3 GB18% of RAM~42 tok/sEstimated3.4B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · rednote-hilab

Q8_0Excellent
3.9 GB16% of RAM~47 tok/sEstimated3.04B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · nanonets

Q8_0Excellent
4.7 GB20% of RAM~38 tok/sEstimated3.75B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
5.0 GB21% of RAM~36 tok/sEstimated4B params
Run with ToolPiper

Multimodal · typhoon-ai

Q8_0Excellent
4.7 GB20% of RAM~38 tok/sEstimated3.75B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · internlm

Q8_0Excellent
2.1 GB9% of RAM~102 tok/sEstimated1.4B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
5.5 GB23% of RAM~32 tok/sEstimated4.44B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · kristaller486

Q8_0Excellent
3.9 GB16% of RAM~47 tok/sEstimated3.04B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
4.3 GB18% of RAM~42 tok/sEstimated3.4B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · weiboai

Q8_0Excellent
3.9 GB16% of RAM~46 tok/sEstimated3.09B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · x-izhang

Q8_0Excellent
4.1 GB17% of RAM~44 tok/sEstimated3.25B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · bytedance

Q8_0Excellent
2.7 GB11% of RAM~71 tok/sEstimated2.01B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
4.3 GB18% of RAM~42 tok/sEstimated3.4B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · bllossom

Q8_0Excellent
4.1 GB17% of RAM~45 tok/sEstimated3.21B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · opengvlab

Q8_0Excellent
2.8 GB12% of RAM~68 tok/sEstimated2.09B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · bytedance

Q8_0Excellent
2.1 GB9% of RAM~100 tok/sEstimated1.43B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · radheneev

Q8_0Excellent
4.1 GB17% of RAM~45 tok/sEstimated3.21B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
5.7 GB24% of RAM~31 tok/sEstimated4.66B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · NousResearch

Q8_0Excellent
4.1 GB17% of RAM~45 tok/sEstimated3.21B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · nvidia

Q8_0Excellent
4.7 GB20% of RAM~38 tok/sEstimated3.75B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · inference-net

Q8_0Excellent
4.1 GB17% of RAM~45 tok/sEstimated3.21B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · opengvlab

Q8_0Excellent
3.0 GB12% of RAM~65 tok/sEstimated2.21B params
Run with ToolPiper
Q8_0Excellent
5.3 GB22% of RAM~33 tok/sEstimated4.3B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
3.8 GB16% of RAM~48 tok/sEstimated2.98B params
Run with ToolPiper

Coding · ibm-granite

Q8_0Excellent
4.4 GB18% of RAM~41 tok/sEstimated3.48B params
Run with ToolPiper

Reasoning · iffyuan

Q8_0Excellent
5.0 GB21% of RAM~35 tok/sEstimated4.07B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · bezzam

Q8_0Excellent
1.4 GB6% of RAM~183 tok/sEstimated0.78B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · huihui-ai

Q8_0Excellent
4.3 GB18% of RAM~42 tok/sEstimated3.4B params
Run with ToolPiper

General · magistrtheone

Q8_0Excellent
11.5 GB48% of RAMBenchmark needed9.87B params
Run with ToolPiper

16-core vs 20-core GPU

Both bins run the same 273 GB/s memory bus, so token generation is the same on either one. The extra cores show up in image and video work, not in tokens per second.

ConfigurationMemory bandwidthMemory optionsModels that fit
12-core CPU, 16-core GPU273 GB/s24, 48 GBIdentical
14-core CPU, 20-core GPU273 GB/s24, 48 GBIdentical

Measured on the M4 Pro

Nobody has submitted a benchmark on the M4 Pro yet, so every speed on this page is the formula estimate rather than a measured run. The estimate is bandwidth-driven and calibrated against chips that do have data, which makes it a good guide and not a promise.

ToolPiper contributes a result anonymously when you run the benchmark, and the leaderboard shows every chip that already has one.

Why unified memory is the number that matters

On a PC the model has to fit in GPU VRAM, which is a separate pool from system RAM and usually the smaller of the two. Apple Silicon has one pool. The M4 Pro's 273 GB/s bus is shared by CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine, so a 48 GB machine can hand almost all of that to a model with no copy across a bus.

Apple stopped selling this one, which is exactly why it is interesting. The 14-inch chassis cools well enough to hold its clocks through a long generation run, and it is the smallest machine Apple puts a Max chip in. A used M4 Pro at 48 GB still gives you 273 GB/s and a hard 63B ceiling, and neither number degrades with age the way a battery does.

Common questions

Can the M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14" run a 70B model?

No. A 70B model at Q4_K_M needs about 46 GB, and the largest M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14" tops out at 48 GB, which leaves about 42 GB for weights. The practical ceiling on this machine is around 63B parameters at Q4.

How much unified memory should I get with the M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14"?

Memory is the only spec that changes what you can run at all. 24 GB holds about a 31B model at Q4; 48 GB holds about 63B. It is soldered, so this is a one-time decision, and it is the upgrade worth paying for before core count.

How fast are local LLMs on the M4 Pro?

Token generation is bandwidth-bound, so M4 Pro throughput scales with its 273 GB/s memory bus. Divide bandwidth by the size of the weights actually read per token to get the ceiling, then expect roughly half of that in practice. A 7B model at Q4 reads about 4 GB per token pass, so the M4 Pro lands in the tens of tokens per second and a 70B model lands in the single digits.

Is the 20-core GPU worth it over the 16-core on the M4 Pro?

Not for LLMs. Both bins run the same 273 GB/s memory bus and take the same memory options, and token generation is bound by bandwidth rather than GPU cores. The extra cores show up in image generation and video work, not in tokens per second.

Is a used M4 Pro MacBook Pro 14" still worth buying for local AI?

For inference, the specs that matter do not age: 273 GB/s and up to 48 GB of unified memory are the same numbers today as they were in 2024. A used M4 Pro at the top memory option usually beats a new base-tier machine at the same price on both. Check the battery and the display, not the silicon.

Run these models on your MacBook Pro 14"

ToolPiper downloads, manages, and runs local models on Apple Silicon. Free, and nothing leaves the machine.