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Mac mini M4 16GB vs AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

For running models locally, priced in the US. At 128k context the first runs 4 models fully in memory, the second 5.

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 7800 XT 624 GB/s. At 128k context the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT runs 5 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 16GB 4; only the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT holds LFM2.5 8B-A1B. On the models both run fully in memory, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is about 3.4× as fast as the Mac mini M4 16GB (estimated, median across models). In the US the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $749 at eBay and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT $550 at eBay: the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is $199 cheaper.

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

Mac mini M4 16GB

$749

eBay

Add to build
AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT

$550

eBay

Add to build

Specifications

SpecMac mini M4 16GBAMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
ChipApple M4 (10-core GPU)–
Memory bus128-bit256-bit
Memory bandwidth120 GB/s624 GB/s
FP16 compute3.76 TFLOPS74 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 7800 XT
Memory–16 GB GDDR6
Board power–263 W
PCIe generation–Gen 4
PCIe lanes–x16

What each runs

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

ModelMac mini M4 16GBAMD Radeon RX 7800 XT
Gemma 4 12B8tok/sQ4_K_M28tok/sQ6_K
Qwen 3.5 9B8tok/sQ4_K_M25tok/sQ8_0
Qwen 3.5 4B9tok/sQ8_039tok/sQ8_0
Gemma 4 E4B8tok/sQ5_K_M29tok/sQ8_0
LFM2.5 8B-A1Bwon't run28tok/sUD-Q6_K
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 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

Questions

Which is better for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT?
Choose the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT to run bigger models. Choose the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT for speed. Choose the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT to spend less.
Which can run bigger models, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT?
At 128k context the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT runs 5 of the models we track fully in memory and the Mac mini M4 16GB 4; only the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT holds LFM2.5 8B-A1B.
Which is faster for local AI, the Mac mini M4 16GB or the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT?
On the models both run fully in memory, the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is about 3.4× 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 7800 XT?
In the US the Mac mini M4 16GB costs $749 at eBay and the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT $550 at eBay: the AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT is $199 cheaper.

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