Run Gemma 4 12B on a Dedicated Mac

Macs that run Gemma 4 12B

At 4-bit with a 32K-token context. Speeds are estimates; see real measurements on the calculator page.

• Mac Mini M6 32GB Best value
  11–15 tokens/sec
  from $169/mo
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• Mac Mini M5 Pro 64GB
  19–27 tokens/sec
  from $299/mo
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• Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB
  32–45 tokens/sec
  from $499/mo
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• Mac Studio M5 Max 128GB
  36–49 tokens/sec
  from $569/mo Available Nov 10, 2026
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• Mac Studio M5 Ultra 256GB
  65–86 tokens/sec
  from $1,199/mo Available Nov 16, 2026
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• 2× Mac Studio M5 Ultra 256GB Cluster Cluster
  57–73 tokens/sec
  from $2,399/mo Available Nov 16, 2026
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• Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB
  65–86 tokens/sec
  from $2,499/mo Available Dec 30, 2026
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• 2× Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB Cluster Cluster
  57–73 tokens/sec
  from $4,999/mo Available Dec 30, 2026
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• 4× Mac Studio M5 Ultra 512GB Cluster Cluster
  47–57 tokens/sec
  from $9,999/mo Available Dec 30, 2026
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Why it runs well on a Mac

Language models have to sit entirely in memory, and generating each word means reading through them again. Apple Silicon puts up to 512 GB of fast unified memory on one chip that the GPU can use directly, so a model like this fits on one quiet machine instead of a stack of graphics cards.

Gemma 4 12B is a dense model: all 12 billion parameters are used for every word, so memory bandwidth decides its speed. The M5 Ultra's 1,229 GB/s makes the biggest difference here.