Mac mini M4 16GB vs AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT

For running models locally, priced in Canada. At 128k context the first runs 11 models fully in memory, the second 17.

In short

Both have 16 GB of memory for models; the Mac mini M4 16GB has 120 GB/s of bandwidth and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT 288 GB/s. At 128k context the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT runs 17 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 16GB 11; only the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT holds LFM2.5 8B-A1B. On the models both run fully in memory, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is about 2.0× as fast as the Mac mini M4 16GB (estimated, median across models). In Canada the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $1,399 at Amazon and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT $1,440 at Amazon: the Mac mini M4 16GB is $41 cheaper.

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

Specifications

SpecMac mini M4 16GBAMD Radeon RX 7600 XT
ChipApple M4 (10-core GPU)–
Memory bus128-bit128-bit
Memory bandwidth120 GB/s288 GB/s
FP16 compute3.76 TFLOPS45 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 RX 7600 XT
Memory–16 GB GDDR6
Board power–190 W
PCIe generation–Gen 4
PCIe lanes–x8

What each runs

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

ModelMac mini M4 16GBAMD Radeon RX 7600 XT
Gemma 4 12B8tok/sQ4_K_M13tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 9B8tok/sQ4_K_M11tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 4B9tok/sQ8_018tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B8tok/sQ5_K_M13tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1Bwon't run13tok/sUD-Q6_K
Qwen2.5 0.5B36tok/sQ8_074tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 0.8B32tok/sQ8_065tok/sQ8_0
Qwen3.5 2B26tok/sQ5_K_M52tok/sQ5_K_M
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 1.5B14tok/sQ8_028tok/sQ8_0
MiniCPM5 2B9tok/sQ8_019tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 2.6B8tok/sQ5_K_M15tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 VL 3B8tok/sQ5_K_M15tok/sQ8_0
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7Bwon't run12tok/sQ6_K
GLM 4.6V Flashwon't run14tok/sQ4_K_M
Mellum2.1 12B A2.5B Thinkingwon't run22tok/sQ6_K
granite 4.2 3bwon't run11tok/sQ8_0
granite vision 4.1 4bwon't run11tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.8 27Bwon't runoffload
Qwen 3.6 27Bwon't runoffload
Gemma 4 31Bwon't runoffload
Qwen 3.5 27Bwon't runoffload
Qwen 3.6 35B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Gemma 4 26B-A4Bwon't runoffload
Devstral Small 2 24Bwon't runoffload
GLM 4.7 Flashwon't runoffload
Qwen 3.5 35B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Kimi Linear 48B-A3Bwon't runoffload
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3Bwon't runoffload
gpt-oss 20Bwon't runoffload
Gemma 3 27Bwon't runoffload
Mistral Small 3.2 24Bwon't runoffload
Ministral 3 14Bwon't runoffload
Qwen3 14Bwon't runoffload
DeepSeek R1 0528 Qwen3 8Bwon't runoffload
Phi-4 14Bwon't runoffload
Qwen3 8Bwon't runoffload
Granite 4.2 8Bwon't runoffload
Ministral 3 8Bwon't runoffload
Llama 3.1 8Bwon't runoffload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8Bwon't runoffload
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 14Bwon't runoffload
Devstral Small 2507won't runoffload
GLM 4.1V 9B Thinkingwon't runoffload
Kimi VL A3Bwon't runoffload
LFM2.5 24B A2Bwon't runoffload
Magistral Small 2506won't runoffload
Magistral Small 2507won't runoffload
Magistral Small 2509won't runoffload
Ministral 3 8B Reasoning 2512won'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
Qwen 3.5 122B-A10Bwon't runwon't run
Nemotron 3 Super 120B-A12Bwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 Coder Nextwon't runwon't run
gpt-oss 120Bwon't runwon't run
Mistral Small 4 119Bwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.5 Airwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 Next 80B-A3Bwon't runwon't run
Qwen3 32Bwon't runwon't run
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32Bwon'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 V3 0324won't runwon't run
DeepSeek V3.1won'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 4.5Vwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.6Vwon't runwon't run
GLM 4.7won'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 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
granite 4.2 30bwon't runwon't run

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT?
Choose the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT to run bigger models. Choose the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT 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 RX 7600 XT?
At 128k context the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT runs 17 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 16GB 11; only the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT holds LFM2.5 8B-A1B.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT?
On the models both run fully in memory, the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT is about 2.0× 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 RX 7600 XT?
In Canada the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $1,399 at Amazon and the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT $1,440 at Amazon: the Mac mini M4 16GB is $41 cheaper.

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