Canonical Rankings

Best Macs for this model

Gemma 4 26B-A4B ranked across the Mac lineup at the best practical quantization, using the best available runtime evidence. Model picker is focused on current-market choices.

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29 ranked MacsUse the strongest current runtime evidence for each row.28 historical models hiddenBaselinesStatic paths cover only canonical model pages; sort and quantization stay as query state.

Rank	Mac	Score	Quant	Tok/s	Runtime	Fits	Headroom	Context	Evidence	Price	Why it ranks here
1	Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	456	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	230.2 GB	262k	Estimated	$7,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 230.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
2	Mac Pro M2 Ultra 192GB	392	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	166.2 GB	262k	Estimated	$6,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 166.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
3	MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch	368	8bit	50.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 50.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	102.2 GB	262k	Estimated	$5,399	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 50.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 102.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
4	Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB	328	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	102.2 GB	262k	Estimated	$4,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 102.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
5	MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB 16-inch	328	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	102.2 GB	262k	Estimated	$5,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 102.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
6	Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB	296	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	70.2 GB	252k	Estimated	$3,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 70.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
7	Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB	264	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	38.2 GB	133k	Estimated	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 38.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
8	MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch	264	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	38.2 GB	133k	Estimated	$4,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 38.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
9	Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB	248	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	22.2 GB	74k	Estimated	$1,599	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 22.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
10	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 14-inch	248	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	22.2 GB	74k	Estimated	$2,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 22.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
11	Mac Studio M4 Max 48GB	248	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	22.2 GB	74k	Estimated	$2,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 22.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
12	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 16-inch	248	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	22.2 GB	74k	Estimated	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 22.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
13	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch	248	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	22.2 GB	74k	Estimated	$3,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 22.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
14	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch	248	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	22.2 GB	74k	Estimated	$3,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 22.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
15	Mac Studio M4 Max 36GB	236	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	10.2 GB	29k	Estimated	$1,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 10.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
16	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch	236	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	10.2 GB	29k	Estimated	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 10.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
17	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch	236	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	10.2 GB	29k	Estimated	$3,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 10.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
18	Mac Mini M4 32GB	232	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	6.2 GB	14k	Estimated	$799	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
19	MacBook Air M4 32GB 13-inch	232	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	6.2 GB	14k	Estimated	$1,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
20	MacBook Air M4 32GB 15-inch	232	8bit	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	6.2 GB	14k	Estimated	$1,699	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
21	Mac Mini M4 16GB	187	Q3_K_L	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q3_K_L · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	3.0 GB	11k	Estimated	$499	Q3_K_L is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 3.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
22	MacBook Air M4 16GB 13-inch	187	Q3_K_L	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q3_K_L · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	3.0 GB	11k	Estimated	$1,099	Q3_K_L is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 3.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
23	MacBook Air M4 16GB 15-inch	187	Q3_K_L	40.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q3_K_L · 40.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	3.0 GB	11k	Estimated	$1,299	Q3_K_L is the current best practical quantization. 40.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 3.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
24	Mac Mini M4 24GB	176	6bit	28.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 28.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	4.0 GB	10k	Estimated	$599	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 28.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
25	MacBook Air M4 24GB 13-inch	176	6bit	28.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 28.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	4.0 GB	10k	Estimated	$1,299	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 28.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
26	Mac Mini M4 Pro 24GB	176	6bit	28.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 28.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	4.0 GB	10k	Estimated	$1,399	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 28.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
27	MacBook Air M4 24GB 15-inch	176	6bit	28.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 28.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	4.0 GB	10k	Estimated	$1,499	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 28.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
28	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 14-inch	176	6bit	28.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 28.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	4.0 GB	10k	Estimated	$1,999	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 28.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
29	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 16-inch	176	6bit	28.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 28.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	4.0 GB	10k	Estimated	$2,499	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 28.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.

Gemma 4 26B-A4B — ranking first, raw rows below

Start with the ranked Mac table above. Use the rest of this page to inspect raw Apple Silicon coverage and model metadata.

Quantizations observed: Q4_K - Medium

4Benchmark rows

4Chip tiers covered

50.0Fastest avg tok/s (M5 Max (128 GB))

—Minimum RAM observed

Quick take

Fastest published result is 50.0 tok/s on M5 Max (128 GB) at Q4_K - Medium. Published runtimes include MLX, Ollama. Start with Rankings for the decision, then use the raw rows below to audit the evidence.

Based on 4 external benchmarks; no lab runs yet.

Published runtimes: MLX, Ollama.

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Catalog record

25.2BTotal params

3.8BActive params

262,144Context window

2026-04-02Release date

What this model is, and what Apple Silicon users are actually seeing

Official model cards tell you what the model is for and which software stacks it targets. Field reality below shows how much Apple Silicon evidence we have so far.

Official brief

Gemma is a family of open models built by Google DeepMind. Gemma 4 models are multimodal, handling text and image input (with audio supported on small models) and generating text output. This release includes open-weights models in both pre-trained and instruction-tuned variants.

Official source · Raw model card

agentscodingreasoningvisual-understanding

Runtime support mentioned

llama.cppTransformers

Official specs

Architecture: Mixture of experts.
Total parameters: 25.2B.
Active parameters: 3.8B.
Context: 256K tokens.
Experts: 8 active / 128 total and 1 shared.
Modalities: Text, Image.

Official takeaways

Reasoning: All models in the family are designed as highly capable reasoners, with configurable thinking modes.
Extended Multimodalities: Processes Text, Image with variable aspect ratio and resolution support (all models), Video, and Audio (featured natively on the E2B and E4B models).
Diverse & Efficient Architectures: Offers Dense and Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) variants of different sizes for scalable deployment.
Increased Context Window: The small models feature a 128K context window, while the medium models support 256K.

Official model cards describe intent, capabilities, and supported stacks. They do not prove Apple Silicon speed by themselves.

Field reality on Apple Silicon

Gemma 4 26B-A4B: 9 Apple Silicon field reports; best reported generation ~75.1 tok/s; best reported prompt processing ~1688 tok/s; reported RAM use ~14.2-16.1GB; seen on M5 PRO 64GB, MacBook Pro M4 PRO 24GB, MacBook Pro M5 PRO 64GB; via oMLX, llama.cpp.

4Benchmark rows

9Field reports

6Practitioner signals

Sparse BenchmarksEvidence status

What practitioners keep saying

The oMLX context table reports gemma-4-26b-a4b-it 4bit on an M1 Max 24-core 64GB Mac at 1024 tokens context with 347.1 tok/s prompt processing, 48.3 tok/s generation, 2.950s TTFT, and peak memory at 14.3GB.
The oMLX context table reports gemma-4-26b-a4b-it 4bit on an M1 Max 24-core 64GB Mac at 4096 tokens context with 378.1 tok/s prompt processing, 46.1 tok/s generation, 10.833s TTFT, and peak memory at 14.9GB.
The page also includes separate batching results; keep batching separate from single-stream ranking claims until first-party methodology matches it.

Apple Silicon field sources

oMLX community benchmarks
2026-05-05 · M1 Max 24-core GPU, 64GB unified memory · oMLX
A same-day oMLX sweep shows Gemma 4 26B-A4B running comfortably on an M1 Max 64GB setup, adding older high-memory Max coverage for the efficient Gemma 4 lane.
oMLX community benchmarks
2026-05-05 · M5 Pro 20-core GPU, 64GB unified memory · oMLX
A same-day oMLX sweep shows Gemma 4 26B-A4B staying fast on an M5 Pro 64GB setup, adding a clean middle step between constrained M5 laptops and M5 Max reproduction targets.
oMLX community benchmarks
2026-05-03 · M5 24GB · oMLX
A same-day oMLX report puts Gemma 4 26B-A4B 4-bit on a 24GB M5 Mac, making it a current efficiency candidate for small unified-memory Apple Silicon systems.
oMLX community benchmarks
2026-04-13 · MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB · oMLX
Gemma 4 26B-A4B has an oMLX 4-bit M4 Pro 24GB report, making it a practical frontier candidate for laptops below the larger-memory pro tiers.
r/LocalLLaMA
2026-04-06 · MacBook Air M5 32GB · llama.cpp
mac-llm-bench reports Gemma 4 26B-A4B fitting on a MacBook Air M5 32GB at interactive-but-modest GGUF speed, which keeps the model relevant while reinforcing runtime-specific caveats.

1 more Apple Silicon field source tracked in the research queue.

Runtime mentions in the field

llama.cppoMLX

Hardware mentioned in reports

24GB32GB64GBM1 MaxM4M4 ProMacMacBook

What would improve confidence

Reproduce Field Performance Signal
Upgrade To First Party Measurement

Current published coverage

Published chip coverage includes M5 Max (128 GB), M4 Max (48 GB), M5 Pro (24 GB), M4 Pro (24 GB). Fastest published row is 50.0 tok/s on M5 Max (128 GB) at Q4_K - Medium.

M5 Max (128 GB)M4 Max (48 GB)M5 Pro (24 GB)M4 Pro (24 GB)

Related Gemma 4 models with published pages: Gemma 4 E4B · Gemma 4 31B · Gemma 4 E2B

Raw benchmark rows for Gemma 4 26B-A4B

Rows stay below the ranking because this page is answer-first. Use them to inspect exact chips, quantizations, runtimes, and sources.

Chip	Quant	RAM req.	Context	Avg tok/s	Prompt tok/s	Runtime	Source
M5 Max (128 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	50.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M4 Max (48 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	40.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M5 Pro (24 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	35.0 tok/s	—	Ollama	ref
M4 Pro (24 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	28.0 tok/s	—	Ollama	ref

Best Macs for Gemma 4 26B-A4B

Ordered by fastest published tok/s on the chip family in each Mac. Click through for the full machine page.

MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch — 50.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch — 40.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch — 40.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch — 40.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch — 40.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch — 40.0 tok/s

Chips with published results for Gemma 4 26B-A4B

M5 Max (128 GB)M4 Max (48 GB)M5 Pro (24 GB)M4 Pro (24 GB)

Data

benchmarks.json — full dataset · models.json — model summaries · benchmarks.csv — CSV export

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