Mac mini M4 16GB vs Mac Studio M3 Ultra 512GB
For running models locally, priced in the US. At 8k context the first runs 13 models fully in memory, the second 42.
Specifications
| Spec | Mac mini M4 16GB | Mac Studio M3 Ultra 512GB |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 (10-core GPU) | Apple M3 Ultra (80-core GPU) |
| Memory bus | 128-bit | 1024-bit |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 819 GB/s |
| FP16 compute | 3.76 TFLOPS | 28 TFLOPS |
| Software | Metal | Metal |
| Unified memory | 16 GB | 512 GB |
| GPU can use by default | 10.7 GB | 384 GB |
| GPU can use, tuned | 10.666666666666666 GB | 504 GB |
| Operating system | macos | macos |
| Processor | M4 10-core | M3 Ultra 32-core |
| Storage | 256 GB | 2000 GB |
What each runs
Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.
| Model | Mac mini M4 16GB | Mac Studio M3 Ultra 512GB |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | won't run | 28tok/sUD-Q4_K_XL |
| GLM 5.3 Flash | won't run | 12tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.8 Flash Next | won't run | 5tok/sQ8_0 |
| MiniMax M2.7 | won't run | 23tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.8 27B | won't run | 18tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.5 122B-A10B | won't run | 30tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.6 27B | won't run | 18tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 4 31B | won't run | 16tok/sQ8_0 |
| Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12B | won't run | 25tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 Coder Next | won't run | 73tok/sQ8_0 |
| gpt-oss 120B | won't run | 93tok/sMXFP4 |
| Mistral Small 4 119B | won't run | 42tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.5 27B | won't run | 18tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B | won't run | 97tok/sQ8_0 |
| GLM 4.5 Air | won't run | 16tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | won't run | 70tok/sQ8_0 |
| Devstral Small 2 24B | won't run | 20tok/sQ8_0 |
| GLM 4.7 Flash | won't run | 56tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B | won't run | 97tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 Next 80B-A3B | won't run | 94tok/sQ8_0 |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3B | won't run | 93tok/sUD-Q6_K_XL |
| Kimi Linear 48B-A3B | won't run | 97tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B | won't run | 80tok/sQ8_0 |
| gpt-oss 20B | won't run | 121tok/sMXFP4 |
| Qwen3 32B | won't run | 14tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 4 12B | 8tok/sQ6_K | 41tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.5 9B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 54tok/sQ8_0 |
| DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B | won't run | 14tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 3 27B | won't run | 18tok/sQ8_0 |
| Llama 3.3 70B | won't run | 7tok/sQ8_0 |
| Mistral Small 3.2 24B | won't run | 20tok/sQ8_0 |
| Ministral 3 14B | 8tok/sQ4_K_M | 34tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 14B | 8tok/sQ4_K_M | 31tok/sQ8_0 |
| DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 54tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen3 8B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 54tok/sQ8_0 |
| Phi-4 14B | 7tok/sQ4_K_M | 31tok/sQ8_0 |
| Qwen 3.5 4B | 16tok/sQ8_0 | 111tok/sQ8_0 |
| Ministral 3 8B | 8tok/sQ8_0 | 52tok/sQ8_0 |
| Granite 4.2 8B | 7tok/sQ8_0 | 50tok/sQ8_0 |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 9tok/sQ8_0 | 63tok/sQ8_0 |
| LFM2.5 8B-A1B | 32tok/sQ8_0 | 218tok/sQ8_0 |
| Llama 3.1 8B | 10tok/sQ6_K | 69tok/sQ6_K |