Canonical Rankings

Best Macs for this model

Qwen 3 235B-A22B ranked across the Mac lineup at the best practical quantization, using the best available runtime evidence. Historical baseline selected; model picker is focused on current-market choices.

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29 ranked MacsUse the strongest current runtime evidence for each row.27 other historical models hiddenBaselinesStatic paths cover only canonical model pages; sort and quantization stay as query state.

Historical baseline selected: Qwen 3 235B-A22B. Default model choices remain current-market; other historical models stay hidden.

Rank	Mac	Score	Quant	Tok/s	Runtime	Fits	Headroom	Context	Evidence	Price	Why it ranks here
1	Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	241	Q6_K	27.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q6_K · 27.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	73.0 GB	105k	Estimated	$7,499	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. 27.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 73.0 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
2	Mac Pro M2 Ultra 192GB	198	Q5_K_M	26.4 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q5_K_M · 26.4 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	32.8 GB	19k	Estimated	$6,999	Q5_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 26.4 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 32.8 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
3	Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB	169	Q3_K_L	30.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q3_K_L · 30.0 tok/s · LM Studio · Estimated	LM Studio	Fits	25.2 GB	25k	Estimated	$4,499	Q3_K_L is the current best practical quantization. 30.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 25.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
4	MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB 16-inch	169	Q3_K_L	30.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q3_K_L · 30.0 tok/s · LM Studio · Estimated	LM Studio	Fits	25.2 GB	25k	Estimated	$5,999	Q3_K_L is the current best practical quantization. 30.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 25.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
5	Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB	148	mlx-dynamic-2.7bpw	26.4 tok/s Fastest evidence path: mlx-dynamic-2.7bpw · 26.4 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	18.7 GB	20k	Estimated	$3,999	mlx-dynamic-2.7bpw is the current best practical quantization. 26.4 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 18.7 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
6	MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch	121	Q3_K_L	18.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q3_K_L · 18.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	25.2 GB	25k	Estimated	$5,399	Q3_K_L is the current best practical quantization. 18.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 25.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
7	Mac Mini M4 16GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-863.2 GB	—	Estimated	$499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Mini M4 16GB at the current practical quantization.
8	Mac Mini M4 24GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-855.2 GB	—	Estimated	$599	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Mini M4 24GB at the current practical quantization.
9	Mac Mini M4 32GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-847.2 GB	—	Estimated	$799	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Mini M4 32GB at the current practical quantization.
10	MacBook Air M4 16GB 13-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-863.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,099	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Air M4 16GB 13-inch at the current practical quantization.
11	MacBook Air M4 24GB 13-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-855.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,299	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Air M4 24GB 13-inch at the current practical quantization.
12	MacBook Air M4 16GB 15-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-863.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,299	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Air M4 16GB 15-inch at the current practical quantization.
13	Mac Mini M4 Pro 24GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-855.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,399	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Mini M4 Pro 24GB at the current practical quantization.
14	MacBook Air M4 32GB 13-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-847.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Air M4 32GB 13-inch at the current practical quantization.
15	MacBook Air M4 24GB 15-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-855.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Air M4 24GB 15-inch at the current practical quantization.
16	Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-831.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,599	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB at the current practical quantization.
17	MacBook Air M4 32GB 15-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-847.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,699	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Air M4 32GB 15-inch at the current practical quantization.
18	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 14-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-855.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,999	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 14-inch at the current practical quantization.
19	Mac Studio M4 Max 36GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-843.2 GB	—	Estimated	$1,999	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Studio M4 Max 36GB at the current practical quantization.
20	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 14-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-831.2 GB	—	Estimated	$2,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 14-inch at the current practical quantization.
21	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 16-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-855.2 GB	—	Estimated	$2,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 16-inch at the current practical quantization.
22	Mac Studio M4 Max 48GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-831.2 GB	—	Estimated	$2,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Studio M4 Max 48GB at the current practical quantization.
23	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-843.2 GB	—	Estimated	$2,999	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch at the current practical quantization.
24	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 16-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-831.2 GB	—	Estimated	$2,999	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 16-inch at the current practical quantization.
25	Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-815.2 GB	—	Estimated	$2,999	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB at the current practical quantization.
26	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-831.2 GB	—	Estimated	$3,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch at the current practical quantization.
27	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-843.2 GB	—	Estimated	$3,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch at the current practical quantization.
28	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-831.2 GB	—	Estimated	$3,999	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch at the current practical quantization.
29	MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch	0	F32	—	MLX	No	-815.2 GB	—	Estimated	$4,499	Qwen 3 235B-A22B does not fit on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch at the current practical quantization.

Qwen 3 235B-A22B — 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: 3bit, 4bit, Q4, Q4_K - Medium

8Benchmark rows

6Chip tiers covered

30.0Fastest avg tok/s (M4 Max (128 GB))

100 GBMinimum RAM observed

Quick take

Fastest published result is 30.0 tok/s on M4 Max (128 GB) at 3bit. Smallest published fit is 100.0 GB on M4 Max (128 GB). Longest published context on this page is 10k. Published runtimes include LM Studio, MLX, Ollama. Start with Rankings for the decision, then use the raw rows below to audit the evidence.

Based on 8 external benchmarks; no lab runs yet.

Published runtimes: LM Studio, MLX, Ollama.

Need the best Mac for this model? Use Buy Need a setup-first answer? Use Run Checking whether it fits? Use Fit Browse Macs by exact hardware Need the full audit trail? Use Bench Comparing against rented GPUs? Use AI Datacenter Index

Catalog record

235.1BTotal params

22BActive params

131,072Context window

2025-04-29Release date

This is a reference-only model record. It remains useful for historical benchmarks, migration checks, and audit context, but it is excluded from current frontier packs.

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

Uniquely support of seamless switching between thinking mode (for complex logical reasoning, math, and coding) and non-thinking mode (for efficient, general-purpose dialogue) within single model, ensuring optimal performance across various scenarios.

Official source · Raw model card

agentscodingreasoning

Runtime support mentioned

MLXllama.cppOllamavLLMSGLangTransformersKTransformers

Official specs

Type: Causal Language Models.
Scale: 235B in total and 22B activated.
Context: 32,768 natively and 131,072 tokens with YaRN.
Total parameters: 235B in total and 22B activated.
Max input: 32,768 natively and 131,072 tokens with YaRN.

Official takeaways

Sampling Parameters: - For thinking mode (enable_thinking=True), use Temperature=0.6, TopP=0.95, TopK=20, and MinP=0. DO NOT use greedy decoding, as it can lead to performance degradation and endless repetitions.
Adequate Output Length: We recommend using an output length of 32,768 tokens for most queries.
Standardize Output Format: We recommend using prompts to standardize model outputs when benchmarking.
Multiple-Choice Questions: Add the following JSON structure to the prompt to standardize responses: "Please show your choice in the answer field with only the choice letter, e.g., "answer": "C"."

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

Field reality on Apple Silicon

Qwen 3 235B-A22B: 5 Apple Silicon field reports; best reported generation ~30 tok/s; seen on MacBook Pro M4 MAX 128GB, Mac Studio 512GB, M2 ULTRA 192GB; via MLX, LM Studio.

8Benchmark rows

5Field reports

6Practitioner signals

Sparse BenchmarksEvidence status

What practitioners keep saying

One operator reports running the 3-bit DWQ quant on a 128GB MacBook Pro only after closing nearly everything else.
This is real Apple Silicon usage, but it is clearly a stretch-tier setup rather than a comfortable default.
The owner reports Qwen3-235B-A22B at 27.36 tok/sec with 1.73s to first token on a 512GB Mac Studio in LM Studio.

Apple Silicon field sources

r/LocalLLaMA
2025-07-17 · MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB · MLX
Qwen 3 235B-A22B is already being stretched onto 128GB Apple laptops, but only as a high-friction top-end experiment.
r/LocalLLaMA
2025-07-08 · Mac Studio 512GB · LM Studio
A 512GB Mac Studio report turns Qwen 3 235B-A22B from theoretical fit into real Apple Silicon throughput at an interactive top-end tier.
r/LocalLLaMA
2025-07-05 · MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB · Ollama
Top-end Apple Silicon owners are already using low-quant Qwen 3 235B-A22B as a retained model choice, not only as a one-time stunt.
r/LocalLLaMA
2025-05-20 · Mac Pro M2 Ultra 192GB · MLX
Ultra-class Apple desktops can run Qwen 3 235B-A22B at genuinely interactive speed, not just as a memory-fit stunt.
r/LocalLLaMA
2025-05-05 · MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB · MLX
A direct M4 Max 128GB report says Qwen 3 235B-A22B can move from stretch-fit theory into genuinely interactive Apple laptop throughput, at least for shorter prompts.

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

Runtime mentions in the field

LM StudioMLXOllama

Hardware mentioned in reports

128GBM3 UltraM4MacMac StudioMacBookMacBook Pro

What would improve confidence

Reproduce Field Performance Signal
Upgrade To First Party Measurement

Current published coverage

Published chip coverage includes M4 Max (128 GB), M3 Ultra (512 GB), M3 Ultra (256 GB), M2 Ultra (192 GB), M4 Ultra (192 GB) plus 1 more chip tier. Fastest published row is 30.0 tok/s on M4 Max (128 GB) at 3bit. Lowest published RAM requirement is 100.0 GB on M4 Max (128 GB). Catalog context window is 10k.

M4 Max (128 GB)M3 Ultra (512 GB)M3 Ultra (256 GB)M2 Ultra (192 GB)M4 Ultra (192 GB)M5 Max (128 GB)

Related Qwen 3 models with published pages: Qwen 3 32B · Qwen 3 30B-A3B · Qwen 3 4B · Qwen 3 8B · Qwen 3 14B · Qwen 3 0.6B

Raw benchmark rows for Qwen 3 235B-A22B

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
M4 Max (128 GB)	3bit	100.0 GB	1k	30.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M3 Ultra (512 GB)	4bit	—	—	27.4 tok/s	—	LM Studio	ref
M3 Ultra (256 GB)	Q4	—	—	27.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M2 Ultra (192 GB)	Q4	—	—	26.4 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M4 Ultra (192 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	22.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M5 Max (128 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	18.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M5 Max (128 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	15.0 tok/s	—	Ollama	ref
M4 Max (128 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	10k	8.1 tok/s	—	LM Studio	ref

Best Macs for Qwen 3 235B-A22B

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

MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch — 30.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch — 30.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch — 30.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch — 30.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch — 30.0 tok/s MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB 16-inch — 30.0 tok/s

Chips with published results for Qwen 3 235B-A22B

M4 Max (128 GB)M3 Ultra (512 GB)M3 Ultra (256 GB)M2 Ultra (192 GB)M4 Ultra (192 GB)M5 Max (128 GB)

Data

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

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