Fastest published Mac-family result
MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch maps to 55.0 tok/s from the strongest published chip-family row for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.
Canonical Rankings
Best Macs for this model
Qwen3.6-35B-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.
| Rank | Mac | Score | Quant | Tok/s | Runtime | Fits | Headroom | Context | Evidence | Price | Why it ranks here |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB | 480 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 222.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $7,499 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 222.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 2 | Mac Pro M2 Ultra 192GB | 416 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 158.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $6,999 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 158.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 3 | MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch | 380 | 8bit | 55.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 55.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 94.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $5,399 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 55.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 94.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 4 | Mac Studio M4 Max 128GB | 352 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 94.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $4,499 | 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. |
| 5 | MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB 16-inch | 352 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 94.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $5,999 | 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 | 320 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 62.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $3,999 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 62.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 7 | Mac Studio M4 Max 64GB | 288 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 30.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $2,999 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 30.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 8 | MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 16-inch | 288 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 30.3 GB | 262k | Estimated | $4,499 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 30.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 9 | Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB | 272 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 14.3 GB | 101k | Estimated | $1,599 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 10 | MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 14-inch | 272 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 14.3 GB | 101k | Estimated | $2,499 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 11 | MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB 16-inch | 272 | 8bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 14.3 GB | 101k | Estimated | $2,999 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 12 | Mac Studio M4 Max 36GB | 260 | Q6_K | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q6_K · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 8.1 GB | 44k | Estimated | $1,999 | Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 8.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 13 | MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch | 260 | Q6_K | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q6_K · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 8.1 GB | 44k | Estimated | $2,999 | Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 8.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 14 | MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 16-inch | 260 | Q6_K | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q6_K · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 8.1 GB | 44k | Estimated | $3,499 | Q6_K is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 8.1 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 15 | Mac Mini M4 32GB | 258 | 6bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 6.4 GB | 30k | Estimated | $799 | 6bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.4 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 16 | MacBook Air M4 32GB 13-inch | 258 | 6bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 6.4 GB | 30k | Estimated | $1,499 | 6bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.4 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 17 | MacBook Air M4 32GB 15-inch | 258 | 6bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 6bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 6.4 GB | 30k | Estimated | $1,699 | 6bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 6.4 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 18 | Mac Studio M4 Max 48GB | 248 | 8bit | 42.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 42.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 14.3 GB | 101k | Estimated | $2,499 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 42.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 19 | MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch | 248 | 8bit | 42.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 42.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 14.3 GB | 101k | Estimated | $3,499 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 42.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 20 | MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 16-inch | 248 | 8bit | 42.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 8bit · 42.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 14.3 GB | 101k | Estimated | $3,999 | 8bit is the current best practical quantization. 42.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 14.3 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 21 | Mac Mini M4 16GB | 219 | 3bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 3bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 2.7 GB | 11k | Estimated | $499 | 3bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 2.7 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 22 | MacBook Air M4 16GB 13-inch | 219 | 3bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 3bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 2.7 GB | 11k | Estimated | $1,099 | 3bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 2.7 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 23 | MacBook Air M4 16GB 15-inch | 219 | 3bit | 48.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: 3bit · 48.0 tok/s · MLX · Estimated | MLX | Fits | 2.7 GB | 11k | Estimated | $1,299 | 3bit is the current best practical quantization. 48.0 tok/s is estimated from nearby benchmark coverage. 2.7 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 24 | Mac Mini M4 24GB | 194 | Q4_K_M | 32.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 32.0 tok/s · Ollama · Trusted reference | Ollama | Fits | 4.2 GB | 16k | Trusted reference | $599 | Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 32.0 tok/s is backed by direct benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 25 | MacBook Air M4 24GB 13-inch | 194 | Q4_K_M | 32.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 32.0 tok/s · Ollama · Trusted reference | Ollama | Fits | 4.2 GB | 16k | Trusted reference | $1,299 | Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 32.0 tok/s is backed by direct benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 26 | Mac Mini M4 Pro 24GB | 194 | Q4_K_M | 32.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 32.0 tok/s · Ollama · Trusted reference | Ollama | Fits | 4.2 GB | 16k | Trusted reference | $1,399 | Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 32.0 tok/s is backed by direct benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 27 | MacBook Air M4 24GB 15-inch | 194 | Q4_K_M | 32.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 32.0 tok/s · Ollama · Trusted reference | Ollama | Fits | 4.2 GB | 16k | Trusted reference | $1,499 | Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 32.0 tok/s is backed by direct benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 28 | MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 14-inch | 194 | Q4_K_M | 32.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 32.0 tok/s · Ollama · Trusted reference | Ollama | Fits | 4.2 GB | 16k | Trusted reference | $1,999 | Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 32.0 tok/s is backed by direct benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
| 29 | MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GB 16-inch | 194 | Q4_K_M | 32.0 tok/s Fastest evidence path: Q4_K_M · 32.0 tok/s · Ollama · Trusted reference | Ollama | Fits | 4.2 GB | 16k | Trusted reference | $2,499 | Q4_K_M is the current best practical quantization. 32.0 tok/s is backed by direct benchmark coverage. 4.2 GB headroom remains at this quantization. |
Qwen3.6-35B-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: Q4_K - Medium
4Benchmark rows
4Chip tiers covered
55.0Fastest avg tok/s (M5 Max (128 GB))
—Minimum RAM observed
Quick take
Fastest published result is 55.0 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.
Best Mac shortlist
These are ranked by the fastest published Qwen3.6-35B-A3B result available for each Mac's chip family. Use them as the search answer, then open the machine page before buying.
Shortlist rank 2
MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 14-inch maps to 42.0 tok/s from the strongest published chip-family row for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.
Shortlist rank 3
MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 14-inch maps to 42.0 tok/s from the strongest published chip-family row for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.
Model search answers
How fast is Qwen3.6-35B-A3B on Mac?
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B currently has a fastest published Mac result of 55.0 tok/s on M5 Max (128 GB) at Q4_K - Medium. 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 Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?
MacBook Pro M5 Max 128GB 16-inch is the fastest published Mac-family answer for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B on this page right now, at 55.0 tok/s from its chip family. Treat that as a published benchmark starting point, not a universal buying recommendation.
Does Qwen3.6-35B-A3B fit on Apple Silicon?
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B does not yet have a published minimum-RAM fit row on this page. Use Fit before assuming it will run cleanly on a specific Mac.
Catalog record
35BTotal params
3BActive params
262,144Context window
2026-04-15Release 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
Agentic Coding: the model now handles frontend workflows and repository-level reasoning with greater fluency and precision.
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
- Agentic Coding: the model now handles frontend workflows and repository-level reasoning with greater fluency and precision.
- Thinking Preservation: we've introduced a new option to retain reasoning context from historical messages, streamlining iterative development and reducing overhead.
Official model cards describe intent, capabilities, and supported stacks. They do not prove Apple Silicon speed by themselves.
Field reality on Apple Silicon
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B: 40 Apple Silicon field reports; best reported generation ~203.1 tok/s; best reported prompt processing ~3691 tok/s; reported RAM use ~19.2-79GB; seen on M2 MAX 96GB, MacBook Pro M4 PRO 48GB, M5 MAX 128GB; via oMLX, MLX.
4Benchmark rows
40Field reports
15Practitioner signals
Sparse BenchmarksEvidence status
What practitioners keep saying
- The oMLX page reports Qwen3.6-35B-A3B 6bit on an M3 Max 40-core 64GB Mac with oMLX v0.3.8 and macOS 26.4.1.
- The context table reports 1024 tokens with 1117 tok/s prompt processing, 79.2 tok/s generation, 0.917s TTFT, and peak memory at 29.0GB.
- The context table reports 4096 tokens with 1428 tok/s prompt processing, 77.0 tok/s generation, 2.869s TTFT, and peak memory at 29.8GB.
Apple Silicon field sources
A same-day oMLX row shows Qwen3.6-35B-A3B 6-bit running on an M3 Ultra 256GB Mac Studio, filling a tier between laptop Max/Pro rows and the existing 512GB M3 Ultra long-context signal.
A same-day oMLX sweep shows Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-oQ4 running fast on M5 Max 128GB at 1k and 4k context, adding a current exact-row reproduction target for the owned high-memory Mac.
A same-day oMLX report shows Qwen3.6-35B-A3B 8-bit running on an M3 Ultra 512GB Mac Studio at both 4k and 128k contexts, adding an extreme-memory Apple Silicon reproduction target for sparse Qwen3.6.
A same-day oMLX sweep shows Qwen3.6-35B-A3B running efficiently on an M1 Max 64GB setup, making older high-memory Max machines more relevant for sparse Qwen3.6 than dense-model fit alone suggests.
Same-day oMLX rows show Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-UD fitting at 16k and 32k context on an M5 32GB setup, but single-digit decode makes it a long-context fit caution rather than a throughput recommendation.
10 more Apple Silicon field sources tracked in the research queue.
Runtime mentions in the field
LM StudioMLXoMLX
Hardware mentioned in reports
32GB48GB64GB96GB128GBM1 MaxM3 UltraM4
What would improve confidence
- Reproduce Field Performance Signal
- Upgrade To First Party Measurement
Current published coverage
Published chip coverage includes M5 Max (128 GB), M5 Max (64 GB), M4 Max (48 GB), M4 Pro (24 GB). Fastest published row is 55.0 tok/s on M5 Max (128 GB) at Q4_K - Medium.
Related Qwen3.6-35B-A3B models with published pages: Qwen3.6-27B
Raw benchmark rows for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Rows stay below the ranking because this page is answer-first. Use them to inspect exact chips, quantizations, runtimes, and sources.
| Chip | Quant | Avg tok/s | Runtime | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M5 Max (128 GB) | Q4_K - Medium | 55.0 tok/s | MLX | ref |
| M5 Max (64 GB) | Q4_K - Medium | 48.0 tok/s | Ollama | ref |
| M4 Max (48 GB) | Q4_K - Medium | 42.0 tok/s | MLX | ref |
| M4 Pro (24 GB) | Q4_K - Medium | 32.0 tok/s | Ollama | ref |
Chips with published results for Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Data
benchmarks.json — full dataset · models.json — model summaries · benchmarks.csv — CSV export