Canonical Rankings

Best Macs for this model

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B 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	616	8bit	80.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 3bit · 95.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	222.3 GB	262k	Community row	$7,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 80.0 tok/s is backed by direct benchmark coverage. 222.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
2	Mac Pro M2 Ultra 192GB	432	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	158.3 GB	262k	Estimated	$6,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 158.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
3	Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB	368	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	94.3 GB	262k	Estimated	$4,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 94.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
4	MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB 16-inch	368	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	94.3 GB	262k	Estimated	$5,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 94.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
5	MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch	352	8bit	48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	94.3 GB	262k	Estimated	$5,399	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 94.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
6	Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB	336	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	62.3 GB	262k	Estimated	$3,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 62.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
7	Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB	304	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	30.3 GB	262k	Estimated	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 30.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
8	MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch	304	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	30.3 GB	262k	Estimated	$4,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 30.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
9	Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB	288	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	14.3 GB	101k	Estimated	$1,599	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
10	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 14-inch	288	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	14.3 GB	101k	Estimated	$2,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
11	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 16-inch	288	8bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	14.3 GB	101k	Estimated	$2,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
12	Mac Studio M4 Max 36GB	276	Q6_K	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q6_K · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	8.1 GB	44k	Estimated	$1,999	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 8.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
13	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch	276	Q6_K	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q6_K · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	8.1 GB	44k	Estimated	$2,999	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 8.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
14	MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch	276	Q6_K	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q6_K · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	8.1 GB	44k	Estimated	$3,499	Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 8.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
15	Mac Mini M4 32GB	274	6bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	6.4 GB	30k	Estimated	$799	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.4 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
16	MacBook Air M4 32GB 13-inch	274	6bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	6.4 GB	30k	Estimated	$1,499	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.4 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
17	MacBook Air M4 32GB 15-inch	274	6bit	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	6.4 GB	30k	Estimated	$1,699	6bit is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.4 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
18	Mac Mini M4 24GB	266	Q4_K_M	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	4.2 GB	16k	Estimated	$599	Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
19	MacBook Air M4 24GB 13-inch	266	Q4_K_M	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	4.2 GB	16k	Estimated	$1,299	Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
20	Mac Mini M4 Pro 24GB	266	Q4_K_M	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	4.2 GB	16k	Estimated	$1,399	Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
21	MacBook Air M4 24GB 15-inch	266	Q4_K_M	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	4.2 GB	16k	Estimated	$1,499	Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
22	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 14-inch	266	Q4_K_M	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	4.2 GB	16k	Estimated	$1,999	Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
23	MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 16-inch	266	Q4_K_M	52.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 52.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated	MLX	Fits	4.2 GB	16k	Estimated	$2,499	Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 52.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
24	Mac Studio M4 Max 48GB	216	8bit	34.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 34.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	14.3 GB	101k	Estimated	$2,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 34.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
25	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch	216	8bit	34.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 34.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	14.3 GB	101k	Estimated	$3,499	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 34.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
26	MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch	216	8bit	34.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 34.0 tok/s · Ollama · Estimated	Ollama	Fits	14.3 GB	101k	Estimated	$3,999	8bit is the current best practical quantization. 34.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
27	Mac Mini M4 16GB	32	3bit	1.3 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 3bit · 1.3 tok/s · llama.cpp · Estimated	llama.cpp	Fits	2.7 GB	11k	Estimated	$499	3bit is the current best practical quantization. 1.3 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 2.7 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
28	MacBook Air M4 16GB 13-inch	32	3bit	1.3 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 3bit · 1.3 tok/s · llama.cpp · Estimated	llama.cpp	Fits	2.7 GB	11k	Estimated	$1,099	3bit is the current best practical quantization. 1.3 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 2.7 GB headroom remains at this quantization.
29	MacBook Air M4 16GB 15-inch	32	3bit	1.3 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 3bit · 1.3 tok/s · llama.cpp · Estimated	llama.cpp	Fits	2.7 GB	11k	Estimated	$1,299	3bit is the current best practical quantization. 1.3 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 2.7 GB headroom remains at this quantization.

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B Apple Silicon benchmark and best Macs

Start with the ranked Mac table above, then audit tokens per second, RAM fit, quantization, runtimes, and source links before trusting the model on your Mac.

Quantizations observed: 4bit, Q4_K - Medium, 8bit, Q4_K_L

13Benchmark rows

9Chip tiers covered

128.0Fastest avg tok/s (M5 Max (48 GB))

19.6 GBMinimum RAM observed

Quick take

Fastest published result is 128.0 tok/s on M5 Max (48 GB) at 4bit. Smallest published fit is 19.6 GB on M3 Ultra (256 GB). Longest published context on this page is 8k. Published runtimes include llama.cpp, LM Studio (llama.cpp), LM Studio (MLX), MLX, Ollama. Start with Rankings for the decision, then use the raw rows below to audit the evidence.

Based on 13 external benchmarks; no lab runs yet.

Published runtimes: llama.cpp, LM Studio (llama.cpp), LM Studio (MLX), 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

Best Mac shortlist

These are ranked by the fastest published Qwen3.5-35B-A3B result available for each Mac's chip family. Use them as the search answer, then open the machine page before buying.

Fastest published Mac-family result

MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch maps to 128.0 tok/s from the strongest published chip-family row for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.

Open MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch · Audit evidence

Shortlist rank 2

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB maps to 95.0 tok/s from the strongest published chip-family row for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.

Open Mac Studio M3 Ultra 96GB · Audit evidence

Shortlist rank 3

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB maps to 95.0 tok/s from the strongest published chip-family row for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B.

Open Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB · Audit evidence

Model search answers

How fast is Qwen3.5-35B-A3B on Mac?

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B currently has a fastest published Mac result of 128.0 tok/s on M5 Max (48 GB) at 4bit. Check the raw rows on this page before comparing that number to a different runtime, quantization, or context length.

What is the best Mac for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B?

MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch is the fastest published Mac-family answer for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B on this page right now, at 128.0 tok/s from its chip family. Treat that as a published benchmark starting point, not a universal buying recommendation.

Does Qwen3.5-35B-A3B fit on Apple Silicon?

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B has a smallest published fit of 19.6 GB on M3 Ultra (256 GB). More memory may still be required for longer context, different quantization, or parallel workloads.

Catalog record

35BTotal params

3BActive params

262,144Context window

2026-02-24Release 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

Unified Vision-Language Foundation: Early fusion training on multimodal tokens achieves cross-generational parity with Qwen3 and outperforms Qwen3-VL models across reasoning, coding, agents, and visual understanding benchmarks.

Official source · Raw model card

agentscodingreasoningvisual-understanding

Runtime support mentioned

vLLMSGLangTransformersKTransformers

Official specs

Type: Causal Language Model with Vision Encoder.
Scale: 35B in total and 3B activated.
Context: 262,144 natively and extensible up to 1,010,000 tokens.
Total parameters: 35B in total and 3B activated.
Max input: 262,144 natively and extensible up to 1,010,000 tokens.

Official takeaways

Unified Vision-Language Foundation: Early fusion training on multimodal tokens achieves cross-generational parity with Qwen3 and outperforms Qwen3-VL models across reasoning, coding, agents, and visual understanding ben…
Efficient Hybrid Architecture: Gated Delta Networks combined with sparse Mixture-of-Experts deliver high-throughput inference with minimal latency and cost overhead.
Scalable RL Generalization: Reinforcement learning scaled across million-agent environments with progressively complex task distributions for robust real-world adaptability.
Global Linguistic Coverage: Expanded support to 201 languages and dialects, enabling inclusive, worldwide deployment with nuanced cultural and regional understanding.

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

Field reality on Apple Silicon

Qwen3.5-35B-A3B: 13 Apple Silicon field reports; best reported generation ~134.5 tok/s; seen on MacBook Pro M5 MAX 128GB, MacBook Pro M5 MAX 48GB, MacBook Pro M3 MAX 128GB; via oMLX, MLX, llama.cpp, Ollama.

13Benchmark rows

13Field reports

14Practitioner signals

Sparse BenchmarksEvidence status

What practitioners keep saying

The post reports Qwen3.5-35B-A3B on a MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB at 80.3 tg tok/s with pp1024/tg128 under oMLX v0.2.23.
This older-Max row makes the M5 Max uplift auditable without mixing two machine contexts into one derived field claim.
The post reports Qwen3.5-35B-A3B on a MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB at 134.5 tg tok/s with pp1024/tg128 under oMLX v0.2.23.

Apple Silicon field sources

r/LocalLLaMA
2026-03-28 · MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB, MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB · oMLX
The oMLX comparison reports Qwen3.5-35B-A3B at 80.3 tg tok/s on a MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB at pp1024/tg128.
r/LocalLLaMA
2026-03-26 · Mac Studio M1 Max 64GB, MacBook Pro M5 Max 48GB · llama.cpp, MLX
The benchmark bundle reports Qwen3.5-35B-A3B 4-bit MLX on a Mac Studio M1 Max 64GB at 57.6 tok/s generation in the 8K workload.
r/LocalLLaMA
2026-03-26 · Mac Mini M4 16GB · llama.cpp
A huge 16GB Mac Mini M4 sweep says Qwen3.5-35B-A3B is worth trying only as a constrained MoE experiment, not as a clean 16GB recommendation.
SharpAI HomeSec-Bench
2026-03-26 · MacBook Pro M5 Pro 64GB · llama.cpp
On an M5 Pro 64GB MacBook Pro, Qwen3.5-35B-A3B looks like a premium Apple Silicon sweet spot: strong HomeSec-Bench accuracy with local response latency that stays comfortably interactive.
r/LocalLLaMA
2026-03-25 · Mac Mini M4 16GB
One Apple Silicon builder reports Qwen3.5-35B-A3B powering a real Mac mini M4 16GB agent setup at around 30 tok/s, despite relying on SSD paging.

5 more Apple Silicon field sources tracked in the research queue.

Runtime mentions in the field

llama.cppLM StudioMLXoMLXvllm-mlx

Hardware mentioned in reports

16GB48GB64GB128GBM1 MaxM4MacMac Mini

What would improve confidence

Reproduce Field Performance Signal
Upgrade To First Party Measurement

Current published coverage

Published chip coverage includes M5 Max (48 GB), M3 Ultra (256 GB), M1 Max (64 GB), M5 Max (64 GB), M5 Max (128 GB) plus 4 more chip tiers. Fastest published row is 128.0 tok/s on M5 Max (48 GB) at 4bit. Lowest published RAM requirement is 19.6 GB on M3 Ultra (256 GB). Catalog context window is 8k.

M5 Max (48 GB)M3 Ultra (256 GB)M1 Max (64 GB)M5 Max (64 GB)M5 Max (128 GB)M5 Pro (64 GB)M4 Max (48 GB)M3 Max (96 GB)

Related Qwen3.5-35B-A3B models with published pages: Qwen3.5-27B · Qwen3.5-9B · Qwen3.5-122B-A10B · Qwen3.5-397B-A17B · Qwen3.5-4B

Standardized eval scorecards for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

These are fixed-machine model scorecards from a single Apple Silicon setup. They help explain whether a model is merely fast or actually good at tools, coding, reasoning, and general tasks. They do not replace the main Mac ranking above.

4bit · vLLM-MLX

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB · Avg 74%

87%Tools

90%Coding

50%Reasoning

70%General

Speed and memory

Long decode: 95.2 tok/s
Short decode: 31.7 tok/s
Cold TTFT: 0.322 s
Active RAM: 19.6 GB

Very fast for its size, but reasoning softness is visible in the standardized tasks.

vLLM-MLX SCORECARD.md · discussion · 2026-03-04

8bit · vLLM-MLX

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB · Avg 85%

90%Tools

90%Coding

80%Reasoning

80%General

Speed and memory

Long decode: 80.0 tok/s
Short decode: 32.4 tok/s
Cold TTFT: 0.456 s
Active RAM: 36.9 GB

The stronger version of the 35B MoE story: fast and much more balanced.

vLLM-MLX SCORECARD.md · discussion · 2026-03-04

Workflow runtime comparisons for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

These are same-model runtime comparisons on Apple Silicon that capture effective throughput and prefill-heavy behavior. They help explain runtime choice, but they do not replace canonical decode-speed benchmark rows.

Ops agent (8 turns)

MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB · Effective tok/s · Interactive

Best runtime observed: oMLX (38.0)

Spread to next result: 2.4 tok/s

Runtime results

oMLX — 38.0 tok/s · Best reported runtime on this workload.
Rapid-MLX — 35.6 tok/s
mlx-openai-server — 26.2 tok/s
LM Studio (GGUF) — 17.6 tok/s · GGUF reference from the same article.
LM Studio (MLX) — 17.0 tok/s · Slowest MLX wrapper in this comparison.

Famstack runtime benchmark writeup · 2026-03-20

These are effective throughput results on an ops-agent workflow. They are best used to compare runtime behavior and caching quality on Apple Silicon, not to replace canonical decode-speed rows.

Prefill stress (8K context)

MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB · Effective tok/s · 8,000 ctx

Best runtime observed: oMLX (16.4)

Spread to next result: 7.7 tok/s

Runtime results

oMLX — 16.4 tok/s · Best reported runtime in this scenario.
mlx-openai-server — 8.7 tok/s
Rapid-MLX — 8.5 tok/s
LM Studio (GGUF) — 7.8 tok/s
LM Studio (MLX) — 5.9 tok/s

Famstack runtime benchmark writeup · 2026-03-20

This is an 8K prefill-stress comparison. It is useful for understanding caching and long-context behavior, not for headline decode-speed ranking.

Raw benchmark rows for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

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 (48 GB)	4bit	—	8k	128.0 tok/s	3235.0 tok/s	MLX	ref
M3 Ultra (256 GB)	4bit	19.6 GB	—	95.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M5 Max (48 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	8k	89.4 tok/s	783.0 tok/s	llama.cpp	ref
M3 Ultra (256 GB)	8bit	36.9 GB	—	80.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M1 Max (64 GB)	4bit	—	8k	57.6 tok/s	431.0 tok/s	MLX	ref
M1 Max (64 GB)	4bit	—	—	57.0 tok/s	—	LM Studio (MLX)	ref
M5 Max (64 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	52.0 tok/s	—	MLX	ref
M5 Max (128 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	48.0 tok/s	—	Ollama	ref
M5 Pro (64 GB)	Q4_K_L	27.2 GB	—	41.9 tok/s	—	llama.cpp	ref
M4 Max (48 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	34.0 tok/s	—	Ollama	ref
M1 Max (64 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	29.0 tok/s	—	LM Studio (llama.cpp)	ref
M3 Max (96 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	22.0 tok/s	—	Ollama	ref
M4 (16 GB)	Q4_K - Medium	—	—	1.3 tok/s	—	llama.cpp	ref

Chips with published results for Qwen3.5-35B-A3B

M5 Max (48 GB)M3 Ultra (256 GB)M1 Max (64 GB)M5 Max (64 GB)M5 Max (128 GB)M5 Pro (64 GB)M4 Max (48 GB)M3 Max (96 GB)M4 (16 GB)

Data

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

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