Apple M5
The chip in the 2026 MacBook Air and the entry MacBook Pro. With 16 to 32 GB of unified memory at 153 GB/s it runs models up to about 14B at reading speed; 24 GB or more also fits gpt-oss 20B, a fast mixture-of-experts model that 16 GB cannot hold.
Specifications
- Processor
- 10 cores (4 super + 6 efficiency)
- Graphics
- 8-core or 10-core Apple GPU with Neural Accelerators
- Memory
- Unified memory, up to 32 GB
- Memory bandwidth
- 153 GB/s (theoretical peak)
What it can run with 32 GB
Estimated writing speed with an 8K-token conversation. Estimates, not our tests; see how we estimate.
| Model (4-bit) | Tokens/s |
|---|---|
| Gemma 4 E4B 4.59 GB | 27-35 |
| Llama 3.1 8B 4.92 GB | 18-23 |
| Qwen3.5 9B 5.68 GB | 17-23 |
| Gemma 4 12B 7.12 GB | 13-17 |
| gpt-oss 20B 12.11 GB | 34-44 |
| Qwen3.8 27B 16.46 GB | 6-7 |
| Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B 18.56 GB | 39-51 |
| Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 22.13 GB | 34-43 |
| Llama 3.3 70B 42.52 GB | Doesn't fit |
| gpt-oss 120B 63.39 GB | Doesn't fit |
Machines with the Apple M5
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| Machine | Memory | Bandwidth | NPU | Price | Status | Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M5, 24 GB) Apple M5, 10-core CPU | 24 GB unified | 153 GB/s | None | $1,499list price | Researched, not tested | Check Apple |
Sources
- Apple MacBook Air technical specifications, checked Sep 26, 2026
- Apple MacBook Pro technical specifications, checked Sep 26, 2026