# Apple Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB for local LLMs

> A strong used or refurbished 128GB option if priced well below the M5 Max.

The M4 Max 128GB has 128GB of unified memory (about 96GB usable by the GPU by default) and 546 GB/s of memory bandwidth, which decides how big a model fits and how fast it generates text. It comfortably runs models up to about 122B parameters: the largest in our catalog is Qwen3.5 122B-A10B at Q4_K_M (77GB with 8K context, ~31 tokens/sec).

## Key specs

- Memory: 128GB LPDDR5X (unified; ~96GB usable by the GPU by default)
- Memory bandwidth: 546 GB/s
- Architecture: Apple M4 Max (2025)
- Power: 480W
- Typical price: $3,499 MSRP (checked 2026-10)
- Software: Metal, MLX

## Best models for this GPU

- **Best overall (also coding, reasoning, vision, largest that fits):** Qwen3.5 122B-A10B at Q4_K_M, ~77.0GB with 8K context, ~31 tokens/sec
- **Runner-up:** Qwen3.6 35B-A3B at Q8_0, ~41.0GB with 8K context, ~51 tokens/sec
- **Fastest good model:** gpt-oss-20b at MXFP4, ~15.0GB with 8K context, ~67 tokens/sec

## Compatibility (best quantization that fits, 8K context)

| Model | Params | Quant | Memory | Speed | Verdict |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 8B | Q8_0 | 10.5GB | ~36 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.5 9B | 9B | Q8_0 | 12.0GB | ~31 tok/s | Runs well |
| Phi-4 | 14.7B | Q8_0 | 18.3GB | ~22 tok/s | Runs well |
| gpt-oss-20b | 20.9B (3.6B active) | MXFP4 | 15.0GB | ~67 tok/s | Runs well |
| Gemma 4 26B A4B | 26B (3.8B active) | Q8_0 | 29.5GB | ~44 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.8 27B | 27B | Q8_0 | 31.6GB | ~12 tok/s | Runs well |
| Gemma 4 31B | 31B | Q8_0 | 35.9GB | ~11 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B | 35B (3B active) | Q8_0 | 41.0GB | ~51 tok/s | Runs well |
| GLM-4.5-Air | 106B (12B active) | Q5_K_M | 79.9GB | ~23 tok/s | Runs well |
| Llama 4 Scout | 109B (17B active) | Q5_K_M | 81.3GB | ~17 tok/s | Runs well |
| gpt-oss-120b | 117B (5.1B active) | MXFP4 | 68.3GB | ~58 tok/s | Runs well |
| Qwen3.5 122B-A10B | 122B (10B active) | Q4_K_M | 77.0GB | ~31 tok/s | Runs well |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 284B (13B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | 320B (18B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |
| GLM-5.3 | 744B (40B active) | - | - | - | Won't fit |

## Pros
- 546 GB/s and 128GB in a quiet desktop
- Mature MLX and llama.cpp support
- Costs less than the M5 Max when bought used

## Cons
- Discontinued
- Slower prompt processing than M5 chips
- No CUDA support

Full page: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/mac-studio-m4-max-128gb · Best models: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/mac-studio-m4-max-128gb/best-models

Sources: [Apple Mac Studio (2025) tech specs](https://support.apple.com/en-us/122211), [Apple Mac Studio power consumption and thermal output](https://support.apple.com/en-us/102027)

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Source: https://llamabuilds.ai/gpus/mac-studio-m4-max-128gb · Updated October 14, 2026 · Llama Builds. Speeds marked ~ are estimates from our bandwidth model (https://llamabuilds.ai/methodology); measured results are labeled as such.