readygpu

Mac mini M4 16GB vs AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700

For running models locally, priced in Canada. At 64k context the first runs 22 models fully in memory, the second 59.

In short

The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 has more memory for models: 32 GB against 16 GB. At 64k context the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 runs 59 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 16GB 22; only the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 holds Qwen 3.8 27B. On the models both run fully in memory, the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 is about 4.5× as fast as the Mac mini M4 16GB (estimated, median across models). In Canada the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $1,400 at eBay (used) and the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 $1,924 at Amazon: the Mac mini M4 16GB is $524 cheaper.

Updated . Speeds are estimates; how they are worked out.

Mac mini M4 16GB

$1,400

eBay, used (asking)

Add to build
AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700

$1,924

Amazon

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac mini M4 16GBAMD Radeon AI PRO R9700
ChipApple M4 (10-core GPU)–
Memory bus128-bit256-bit
Memory bandwidth120 GB/s640 GB/s
FP16 compute3.76 TFLOPS191 TFLOPS
SoftwareMetalROCm
Unified memory16 GB–
GPU can use by default10.7 GB–
GPU can use, tuned10.666666666666666 GB–
Operating systemmacos–
ProcessorM4 10-core–
Storage256 GB–
GPU–Radeon AI PRO R9700
Memory–32 GB GDDR6
Board power–300 W
PCIe generation–Gen 5
PCIe lanes–x16

What each runs

Estimated decode speed with the most precise quant that fits each one est.

ModelMac mini M4 16GBAMD Radeon AI PRO R9700
Qwen 3.8 27Bwon't run12tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.6 27Bwon't run13tok/sQ6_K
Gemma 4 31Bwon't run11tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 27Bwon't run13tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3Bwon't run55tok/sUD-Q6_K
Gemma 4 26B-A4Bwon't run37tok/sQ8_0
Devstral Small 2 24Bwon't run12tok/sQ6_K
GLM 4.7 Flashwon't run28tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3Bwon't run55tok/sQ6_K
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3Bwon't run64tok/sUD-Q5_K_M
Kimi Linear 48B-A3Bwon't run88tok/sQ4_K_M
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3Bwon't run24tok/sQ6_K
gpt-oss 20Bwon't run52tok/sMXFP4
Gemma 4 12B8tok/sQ5_K_M25tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 9B8tok/sQ6_K30tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 3 27Bwon't run13tok/sQ6_K
Mistral Small 3.2 24Bwon't run12tok/sQ6_K
Ministral 3 14Bwon't run14tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 14Bwon't run13tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8Bwon't run19tok/sQ8_0
Phi-4 14Bwon't run12tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3 8Bwon't run19tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 4B12tok/sQ8_053tok/sQ8_0
Granite 4.2 8Bwon't run18tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8Bwon't run19tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B8tok/sQ8_035tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1B12tok/sUD-Q6_K49tok/sQ8_0
Llama 3.1 8Bwon't run23tok/sQ6_K
Qwen2.5 0.5B58tok/sQ8_0263tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 0.8B48tok/sQ8_0215tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 2B35tok/sQ5_K_M156tok/sQ5_K_M
LFM3 1.7B29tok/sQ8_0132tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B21tok/sQ8_093tok/sQ8_0
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinking17tok/sQ4_K_M58tok/sQ8_0
MiniCPM5 2B14tok/sQ8_064tok/sQ8_0
Spark X2.5 4B14tok/smlx-4bit64tok/smlx-4bit
FrogNano 4B 260911tok/sQ8_052tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 2.6B11tok/sQ8_051tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 VL 3B11tok/sQ8_051tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4.6V Flash9tok/sQ4_K_M28tok/sQ8_0
granite vision 4.1 4b9tok/sQ8_039tok/sQ8_0
granite 4.2 3b8tok/sQ8_038tok/sQ8_0
GLM 4 9B 04148tok/smlx-4bit32tok/smlx-5bit
Ministral 3 3B Instruct 25128tok/sQ6_K33tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B8tok/sQ6_K30tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8Bwon't run21tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14Bwon't run12tok/sQ8_0
Devstral Small 2507won't run13tok/sQ5_K_M
GLM 4.1V 9B Thinkingwon't run24tok/smlx-8bit
Kimi VL A3Bwon't run40tok/smlx-8bit
Kimi VL A3B Thinking 2506won't run41tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 24B A2Bwon't run28tok/sQ8_0
Magistral Small 2506won't run12tok/sQ6_K
Magistral Small 2507won't run13tok/sQ5_K_M
Magistral Small 2509won't run13tok/sQ5_K_M
Ministral 3 14B Reasoning 2512won't run14tok/sQ8_0
Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 2512won't run19tok/sQ8_0
Muse Glimmer 30Bwon't run14tok/sQ6_K
Qwen3.8 27B OBLITERATEDwon't run14tok/smlx-4bit
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10Bwon't runoffload
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12Bwon't runoffload
Qwen3 Coder Nextwon't runoffload
Mistral Small 4 119Bwon't runoffload
GLM 4.5 Airwon't runoffload
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Qwen3 32Bwon't runoffload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32Bwon't runoffload
granite 4.2 30bwon't runoffload
DeepSeek V4 Flashwon't runwon't run
GLM 5.3 Flashwon't runwon't run
Qwen 3.8 Flash Nextwon't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.7won't runwon't run
gpt-oss 120Bwon't runwon't run
Llama 3.3 70Bwon't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 0528won't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70Bwon't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Zerowon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3 0324won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1 Terminuswon't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.2won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Expwon't runwon't run
Devstral 2 123B Instruct 2512won't runwon't run
GLM 4.5won't runwon't run
GLM 4.5Vwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.6won't runwon't run
GLM 4.6Vwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.7won't runwon't run
GLM 5won't runwon't run
GLM 5.1won't runwon't run
GLM 5.2won't runwon't run
GLM 5.3won't runwon't run
Kimi Dev 72Bwon't runwon't run
Kimi K2won't runwon't run
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905won't runwon't run
Kimi K2 Thinkingwon't runwon't run
Kimi K2.5won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.1won't runwon't run
MiniMax M2.5won't runwon't run
MiniMax M3won't runwon't run
Mistral Medium 3.5 128Bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700?
Choose the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 to run bigger models. Choose the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 for speed. Choose the Mac mini M4 16GB to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700?
At 64k context the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 runs 59 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 16GB 22; only the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 holds Qwen 3.8 27B.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700?
On the models both run fully in memory, the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 is about 4.5× as fast as the Mac mini M4 16GB (estimated, median across models).
What is the price difference between the Mac mini M4 16GB and the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700?
In Canada the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $1,400 at eBay (used) and the AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 $1,924 at Amazon: the Mac mini M4 16GB is $524 cheaper.

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