Public evidence synthesis

Local Model Fit for Mac mini and Mac Studio

A planning tool for the latest Qwen3.8, DeepSeek V4, GLM-5.3, and Gemma 4 open-weight representatives across Mac mini and Mac Studio configurations. Start with public file facts and capacity arithmetic, then separate runtime and workflow evidence before you decide whether an upgrade is justified.

Last reviewed August 28, 2026 · Independent guidance, not Apple advice

Short answer

Use this page to compare the newest high-interest representatives by family. Legacy releases remain available only for compatibility links; they are intentionally excluded from the primary matrix. A model may fit the memory budget while tool calling, JSON, vision, concurrency, or sustained behavior remains unknown.

Interactive tool

Check whether your model fits your Mac.

Choose a model or a Mac configuration to see the weight budget, memory headroom, runtime evidence, and the next step into the free Advisor.

Open the fit explorer

Public evidence synthesis, not a first-party benchmark.

This planning tool combines official model cards, public GGUF/QAT file metadata, runtime documentation, published evaluations, and clearly labeled community reports. It does not claim that Keep or Upgrade ran every model, and Apple or model vendors do not endorse this page.

Download CSV Download JSON · Same source data as this page

The downloads are citation-friendly snapshots with source URLs, evidence levels, and the data date. Link to this Hub as the canonical explanation; the download endpoints stay out of the sitemap.

Compare against a Mac configuration

Mac mini M6 · 16GB153GB/s · US$899 · starting price

Model evidence matrix

Latest and high-interest open-weight models

The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases and useful Mac planning representatives. Capacity uses the selected public artifact size when available; parameter-based numbers are planning estimates only. Expand Sources and limits on any row to inspect attributable community signals and their limits.

Family / tier	Model and version	Quantization / artifact	Capacity on selected Mac	Runtime evidence	Confidence	Details
QwenSmall	Qwen3.8 27BQwen3.8 · 27B dense	Q4_0 · GGUF16.1 GB · Public file metadata	No fit-8.06GB remaining after reserve	Official supportmlx2 social signals · see sources	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public file metadata16.1 GB · exact public file metadata Runtime sourcemlx · Official support Community evidence (2)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test. Reddit · Qwen3.8-27B on a 24GB M4 Pro Mac miniMac mini · M4 Pro · 24GB · llama.cpp b10488 · GGUF Q4_K_M / IQ4_XSQ4_K_M 17.77GB; about 11.4 tok/s decode; about 16.6GB resident with q8 KV at 32K context · medium confidenceA first-person report says the 27B model is usable on 24GB, but the memory ceiling is visible once context and KV cache are included. Limitation: One user, one build, and one workload; not a Keep or Upgrade test. Tech media / blog · Qwen3.8-27B 4-bit on a 32GB M1 ProMacBook Pro · M1 Pro · 32GB · MLX-VLM · MLX 4-bit8–8.7 tok/s; weights about 16.05GB; peak memory about 18.5–21.7GB · medium confidenceA detailed local deployment log reports a stable 32GB starting point and explicitly discourages 16GB for this 27B representative. Limitation: Community log with different thermals, context, and prompt mix from the product matrix. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
QwenMainstream	Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 180B (6B active)Qwen3.8-Flash-Next · 180B total / 6B active	BF16 · Safetensors360.0 GB · Public file metadata	No fit-352GB remaining after reserve	Community reportedmlx1 social signal · see sources	mediumChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public file metadata360.0 GB · exact public file metadata Runtime sourcemlx · Community reported Community evidence (1)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test. Reddit · Latest-model comparison thread (non-Apple hardware)4× DGX Spark / other non-Apple systemsUsers discuss Qwen3.8 Flash as an exploration/subagent model; no Mac tuple or reproducible throughput is provided. · low confidenceThis is a freshness and interest signal only, not evidence that Flash Next fits a Mac configuration. Limitation: Cross-hardware discussion; excluded from Mac capacity conclusions. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
QwenBoundary	Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95BQwen3.8 · 2400B total / 95B active	Q4_K_M · GGUF1440.0 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered	No fit-1432GB remaining after reserve	Official supportmlx	mediumChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public model source; exact file not registered1440.0 GB · parameter planning estimate Runtime sourcemlx · Official support No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
DeepSeekMainstream	DeepSeek-V4-Flash 284B-A13BDeepSeek V4 · 284B total / 13B active	MLX-4bit · MLX170.4 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered	No fit-162.4GB remaining after reserve	Community reportedmlx7 social signals · see sources	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public model source; exact file not registered170.4 GB · parameter planning estimate Runtime sourcemlx · Community reported Community evidence (7)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test. Reddit · DeepSeek V4 Flash on an M5 Max 128GBMac · Apple M5 Max · 128GB · ds4 / SSD-streaming path · DwarfStar IQ2XXSAbout 81GB model working set and about 31.06 tok/s in the reported run · medium confidenceA direct Apple Silicon report shows a practical 128GB path for the Flash representative. Limitation: Community benchmark; exact context, thermal state, and build can change the result. Tech media / blog · DeepSeek V4 Flash on an M3 Max 128GBMacBook Pro · M3 Max · 128GB · ds4 experimental forkAbout 21 tok/s and about 81GB resident in the reported run · medium confidenceAn independent technical write-up corroborates that 128GB-class Apple Silicon can run a local Flash path. Limitation: The article is tied to an experimental fork and does not validate mainline Ollama or llama.cpp. Reddit · DeepSeek V4 Flash on 64GB Macs with SSD streaming64GB Apple Silicon Macs · 64GB · ds4 SSD streaming · IQ2XXS / 2-bit classReports cluster around roughly 10–15 tok/s; technically possible, but not a comfortable in-memory workflow · medium confidence64GB appears technically viable only with aggressive quantization and storage streaming, so it is kept as a constrained edge case. Limitation: Mixed community reports and different Mac generations; do not read this as a 64GB recommendation. GitHub · MLX DeepSeek V4 residency growth and resource-limit crashM4 Max 128GB and other Apple Silicon reports · 128GB · MLX-LMReproduction reports deterministic resource-limit failure around 11,300 generated tokens · high confidenceThe issue is important negative evidence: a model can fit and still fail on long generations because of runtime memory behavior. Limitation: Issue state and fixes can change; check the runtime version and referenced patch before relying on MLX. GitHub · MLX cache/residency failure on an M3 Ultra 512GBMac Studio · M3 Ultra 512GB · 512GB · MLX-LMReports failure around 11,456–11,488 generated tokens in a production-style run · high confidenceEven very large unified-memory systems are not automatically stable for long-context MLX runs. Limitation: This is a runtime bug report, not a capacity limit; a patched release may change the result. GitHub · DeepSeek V4 Flash Q8 garbled output on Apple NEONApple Silicon CPU / NEON · llama.cpp · Q8A specific repack path produced garbled output · high confidenceThis narrows the risk to a quantization/repack/runtime combination instead of treating every llama.cpp path as equivalent. Limitation: Do not generalize one broken Q8 repack to all DeepSeek V4 Flash formats. GitHub · ds4 Apple Silicon throughput tableMac Studio · M3 Ultra 512GB · 512GB · ds4 Metal/CUDA engine · Q4 classRepository table reports short/long generation figures around 78.95 / 35.50 tok/s · medium confidenceA purpose-built engine provides a useful upper-bound signal for a large-memory Mac Studio, but it is not a mainstream runtime guarantee. Limitation: Single graph worker, no batching, and engine-specific optimizations; compare only directionally. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
DeepSeekBoundary	DeepSeek-V4-Pro 1.6T-A49BDeepSeek V4 · 1600B total / 49B active	MLX-4bit · MLX960.0 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered	No fit-952GB remaining after reserve	Unknownllama.cpp	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public model source; exact file not registered960.0 GB · parameter planning estimate Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Unknown No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
GLMMainstream	GLM-5.3-Flash 320B-A18BGLM-5.3-Flash · 320B total / 18B active	MLX-4bit · MLX204.0 GB · Public file metadata	No fit-195.99GB remaining after reserve	Community reportedmlx2 social signals · see sources	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public file metadata204.0 GB · exact public file metadata Runtime sourcemlx · Community reported Community evidence (2)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test. Hugging Face · Community GLM-5.3-Flash MLX quantization ladderMLX · 2bit-lite / 2 / 3 / 4 / 6-bit MLXPublic metadata lists about 102.43GB to 295.60GB per variant; the 4-bit root mirror is about 203.99GB · medium confidenceThe newer repository makes the precision trade-off explicit and includes a 2bit-lite path, but it does not prove loadability or speed on a particular Mac. Limitation: Community conversion; full-repository size includes duplicate root and variant folders, and no trustworthy Apple first-person benchmark is attached. Reddit · GLM-5.3 Flash comparison thread (non-Apple hardware)Dual DGX Spark / other non-Apple systemsOne report describes roughly 22 tok/s on dual Spark and a slower, more verbose interaction style · low confidenceThis indicates active community comparison but cannot be translated into a Mac recommendation. Limitation: Cross-hardware, anecdotal, and workload-specific. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
GLMBoundary	GLM-5.3 744B-A40BGLM-5.3 · 744B total / 40B active	MLX-4bit · MLX446.4 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered	No fit-438.4GB remaining after reserve	Unknownllama.cpp	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public model source; exact file not registered446.4 GB · parameter planning estimate Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Unknown No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
Google GemmaSmall	Gemma 4 E2BGemma 4 · 2.3B effective / 5.1B total · PLE	Q4_0 · QAT3.35 GB · Public file metadata	Headroom4.65GB remaining after reserve	Community reportedllama.cpp1 social signal · see sources	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public file metadata3.35 GB · exact public file metadata Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Community reported Community evidence (1)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test. Tech media / blog · Apple Silicon local-AI comparison including Gemma 4Mac Studio / M4 Max 128GB test systems · 128GB · llama.cppGemma 4 appears in the comparison; the article warns that bandwidth is not the sole predictor and does not publish this exact matrix tuple · low confidenceUseful context for Apple Silicon behavior, but not an exact Gemma 4 E2B fit or performance claim. Limitation: Different model/quantization details and media test methodology from this product matrix. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
Google GemmaMainstream	Gemma 4 12B UnifiedGemma 4 · 11.95B dense	Q4_0 · QAT6.98 GB · Public file metadata	Tight1.02GB remaining after reserve	Unknownllama.cpp	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public file metadata6.98 GB · exact public file metadata Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Unknown No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor
Google GemmaBoundary	Gemma 4 26B-A4BGemma 4 · 25.2B total / 3.8B active	Q4_0 · QAT14.4 GB · Public file metadata	No fit-6.44GB remaining after reserve	Community reportedllama.cpp	highChecked 2026-08-28	Sources and limits Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28 Public file metadata14.4 GB · exact public file metadata Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Community reported No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence. Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark. Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing. Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result. Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks. The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here. Use in free advisor

Qwen · Small

Qwen3.8 27B

Qwen3.8 · 27B dense

No fit

Quantization / artifact: Q4_0 · GGUF16.1 GB · Public file metadata
Capacity on selected Mac: -8.06GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Official supportmlx
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public file metadata16.1 GB · exact public file metadata
Runtime sourcemlx · Official support
Community evidence (2)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test.
Reddit · Qwen3.8-27B on a 24GB M4 Pro Mac miniMac mini · M4 Pro · 24GB · llama.cpp b10488 · GGUF Q4_K_M / IQ4_XSQ4_K_M 17.77GB; about 11.4 tok/s decode; about 16.6GB resident with q8 KV at 32K context · medium confidenceA first-person report says the 27B model is usable on 24GB, but the memory ceiling is visible once context and KV cache are included. Limitation: One user, one build, and one workload; not a Keep or Upgrade test.
Tech media / blog · Qwen3.8-27B 4-bit on a 32GB M1 ProMacBook Pro · M1 Pro · 32GB · MLX-VLM · MLX 4-bit8–8.7 tok/s; weights about 16.05GB; peak memory about 18.5–21.7GB · medium confidenceA detailed local deployment log reports a stable 32GB starting point and explicitly discourages 16GB for this 27B representative. Limitation: Community log with different thermals, context, and prompt mix from the product matrix.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

Qwen · Mainstream

Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 180B (6B active)

Qwen3.8-Flash-Next · 180B total / 6B active

No fit

Quantization / artifact: BF16 · Safetensors360.0 GB · Public file metadata
Capacity on selected Mac: -352GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Community reportedmlx
Confidence: mediumChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public file metadata360.0 GB · exact public file metadata
Runtime sourcemlx · Community reported
Community evidence (1)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test.
Reddit · Latest-model comparison thread (non-Apple hardware)4× DGX Spark / other non-Apple systemsUsers discuss Qwen3.8 Flash as an exploration/subagent model; no Mac tuple or reproducible throughput is provided. · low confidenceThis is a freshness and interest signal only, not evidence that Flash Next fits a Mac configuration. Limitation: Cross-hardware discussion; excluded from Mac capacity conclusions.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

Qwen · Boundary

Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95B

Qwen3.8 · 2400B total / 95B active

No fit

Quantization / artifact: Q4_K_M · GGUF1440.0 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered
Capacity on selected Mac: -1432GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Official supportmlx
Confidence: mediumChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public model source; exact file not registered1440.0 GB · parameter planning estimate
Runtime sourcemlx · Official support
No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

DeepSeek · Mainstream

DeepSeek-V4-Flash 284B-A13B

DeepSeek V4 · 284B total / 13B active

No fit

Quantization / artifact: MLX-4bit · MLX170.4 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered
Capacity on selected Mac: -162.4GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Community reportedmlx
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public model source; exact file not registered170.4 GB · parameter planning estimate
Runtime sourcemlx · Community reported
Community evidence (7)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test.
Reddit · DeepSeek V4 Flash on an M5 Max 128GBMac · Apple M5 Max · 128GB · ds4 / SSD-streaming path · DwarfStar IQ2XXSAbout 81GB model working set and about 31.06 tok/s in the reported run · medium confidenceA direct Apple Silicon report shows a practical 128GB path for the Flash representative. Limitation: Community benchmark; exact context, thermal state, and build can change the result.
Tech media / blog · DeepSeek V4 Flash on an M3 Max 128GBMacBook Pro · M3 Max · 128GB · ds4 experimental forkAbout 21 tok/s and about 81GB resident in the reported run · medium confidenceAn independent technical write-up corroborates that 128GB-class Apple Silicon can run a local Flash path. Limitation: The article is tied to an experimental fork and does not validate mainline Ollama or llama.cpp.
Reddit · DeepSeek V4 Flash on 64GB Macs with SSD streaming64GB Apple Silicon Macs · 64GB · ds4 SSD streaming · IQ2XXS / 2-bit classReports cluster around roughly 10–15 tok/s; technically possible, but not a comfortable in-memory workflow · medium confidence64GB appears technically viable only with aggressive quantization and storage streaming, so it is kept as a constrained edge case. Limitation: Mixed community reports and different Mac generations; do not read this as a 64GB recommendation.
GitHub · MLX DeepSeek V4 residency growth and resource-limit crashM4 Max 128GB and other Apple Silicon reports · 128GB · MLX-LMReproduction reports deterministic resource-limit failure around 11,300 generated tokens · high confidenceThe issue is important negative evidence: a model can fit and still fail on long generations because of runtime memory behavior. Limitation: Issue state and fixes can change; check the runtime version and referenced patch before relying on MLX.
GitHub · MLX cache/residency failure on an M3 Ultra 512GBMac Studio · M3 Ultra 512GB · 512GB · MLX-LMReports failure around 11,456–11,488 generated tokens in a production-style run · high confidenceEven very large unified-memory systems are not automatically stable for long-context MLX runs. Limitation: This is a runtime bug report, not a capacity limit; a patched release may change the result.
GitHub · DeepSeek V4 Flash Q8 garbled output on Apple NEONApple Silicon CPU / NEON · llama.cpp · Q8A specific repack path produced garbled output · high confidenceThis narrows the risk to a quantization/repack/runtime combination instead of treating every llama.cpp path as equivalent. Limitation: Do not generalize one broken Q8 repack to all DeepSeek V4 Flash formats.
GitHub · ds4 Apple Silicon throughput tableMac Studio · M3 Ultra 512GB · 512GB · ds4 Metal/CUDA engine · Q4 classRepository table reports short/long generation figures around 78.95 / 35.50 tok/s · medium confidenceA purpose-built engine provides a useful upper-bound signal for a large-memory Mac Studio, but it is not a mainstream runtime guarantee. Limitation: Single graph worker, no batching, and engine-specific optimizations; compare only directionally.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

DeepSeek · Boundary

DeepSeek-V4-Pro 1.6T-A49B

DeepSeek V4 · 1600B total / 49B active

No fit

Quantization / artifact: MLX-4bit · MLX960.0 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered
Capacity on selected Mac: -952GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Unknownllama.cpp
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public model source; exact file not registered960.0 GB · parameter planning estimate
Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Unknown
No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

GLM · Mainstream

GLM-5.3-Flash 320B-A18B

GLM-5.3-Flash · 320B total / 18B active

No fit

Quantization / artifact: MLX-4bit · MLX204.0 GB · Public file metadata
Capacity on selected Mac: -195.99GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Community reportedmlx
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public file metadata204.0 GB · exact public file metadata
Runtime sourcemlx · Community reported
Community evidence (2)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test.
Hugging Face · Community GLM-5.3-Flash MLX quantization ladderMLX · 2bit-lite / 2 / 3 / 4 / 6-bit MLXPublic metadata lists about 102.43GB to 295.60GB per variant; the 4-bit root mirror is about 203.99GB · medium confidenceThe newer repository makes the precision trade-off explicit and includes a 2bit-lite path, but it does not prove loadability or speed on a particular Mac. Limitation: Community conversion; full-repository size includes duplicate root and variant folders, and no trustworthy Apple first-person benchmark is attached.
Reddit · GLM-5.3 Flash comparison thread (non-Apple hardware)Dual DGX Spark / other non-Apple systemsOne report describes roughly 22 tok/s on dual Spark and a slower, more verbose interaction style · low confidenceThis indicates active community comparison but cannot be translated into a Mac recommendation. Limitation: Cross-hardware, anecdotal, and workload-specific.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

GLM · Boundary

GLM-5.3 744B-A40B

GLM-5.3 · 744B total / 40B active

No fit

Quantization / artifact: MLX-4bit · MLX446.4 GB · Public model source; exact file not registered
Capacity on selected Mac: -438.4GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Unknownllama.cpp
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public model source; exact file not registered446.4 GB · parameter planning estimate
Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Unknown
No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

Google Gemma · Small

Gemma 4 E2B

Gemma 4 · 2.3B effective / 5.1B total · PLE

Headroom

Quantization / artifact: Q4_0 · QAT3.35 GB · Public file metadata
Capacity on selected Mac: 4.65GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Community reportedllama.cpp
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public file metadata3.35 GB · exact public file metadata
Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Community reported
Community evidence (1)Public reports are signals only; they never upgrade this page to a project test.
Tech media / blog · Apple Silicon local-AI comparison including Gemma 4Mac Studio / M4 Max 128GB test systems · 128GB · llama.cppGemma 4 appears in the comparison; the article warns that bandwidth is not the sole predictor and does not publish this exact matrix tuple · low confidenceUseful context for Apple Silicon behavior, but not an exact Gemma 4 E2B fit or performance claim. Limitation: Different model/quantization details and media test methodology from this product matrix.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

Google Gemma · Mainstream

Gemma 4 12B Unified

Gemma 4 · 11.95B dense

Tight

Quantization / artifact: Q4_0 · QAT6.98 GB · Public file metadata
Capacity on selected Mac: 1.02GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Unknownllama.cpp
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public file metadata6.98 GB · exact public file metadata
Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Unknown
No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

Google Gemma · Boundary

Gemma 4 26B-A4B

Gemma 4 · 25.2B total / 3.8B active

No fit

Quantization / artifact: Q4_0 · QAT14.4 GB · Public file metadata
Capacity on selected Mac: -6.44GB remaining after reserve
Runtime evidence: Community reportedllama.cpp
Confidence: highChecked 2026-08-28

Sources and limits

Official model sourceModel family, parameters, and release context · Checked 2026-08-28
Public file metadata14.4 GB · exact public file metadata
Runtime sourcellama.cpp · Community reported
No trustworthy Mac first-person report captured in this refresh.Capacity remains a public-metadata planning estimate; runtime is not upgraded by absence of evidence.
Public file metadata or a parameter estimate is not a first-party benchmark.
Community artifacts and reports do not imply vendor endorsement or Keep or Upgrade testing.
Social evidence is directional: build, context, thermals, storage streaming, and prompt mix can change the result.
Context, concurrency, tool calling, JSON, vision, and sustained behavior remain separate capability checks.
The primary matrix prioritizes current flagship releases; legacy versions remain compatibility records but are intentionally omitted here.

Use in free advisor

Capability evidence

Workflow capability is a separate question

Context windows are model metadata. Concurrency, tool calling, JSON reliability, vision, and sustained behavior depend on the exact model, runtime, client, memory pressure, and task. A positive cell is still not a guarantee for your workflow.

Model	Context	Concurrency	Tool calling	JSON	Vision	Sustained
Qwen3.8 27BSmall	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	Official supportThe current Qwen material documents tool or agent paths. The exact model template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 180B (6B active)Mainstream	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	Official supportThe current Qwen material documents tool or agent paths. The exact model template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	Official supportThe current model documentation describes multimodal inputs for this representative; the selected Mac runtime path still needs checking.Source	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95BBoundary	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	Official supportThe current Qwen material documents tool or agent paths. The exact model template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
DeepSeek-V4-Flash 284B-A13BMainstream	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,048,576 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	Official supportThe official DeepSeek V4 material documents tool use in the model family. The exact local template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
DeepSeek-V4-Pro 1.6T-A49BBoundary	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,048,576 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	Official supportThe official DeepSeek V4 material documents tool use in the model family. The exact local template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
GLM-5.3-Flash 320B-A18BMainstream	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,000,000 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	Official supportThe official GLM-5.3 material documents function calling and agent capabilities. It is not a Mac runtime integration benchmark.Source	Public benchmarkPublic GLM evaluations cover agentic or structured tasks, but they do not establish JSON validity in every client.Source	Official supportThe current model documentation describes multimodal inputs for this representative; the selected Mac runtime path still needs checking.Source	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
GLM-5.3 744B-A40BBoundary	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,000,000 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	Official supportThe official GLM-5.3 material documents function calling and agent capabilities. It is not a Mac runtime integration benchmark.Source	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
Gemma 4 E2BSmall	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 131,072 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	UnknownNo model-specific public tool-calling result is strong enough for a positive claim in this snapshot.	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	Official supportThe current model documentation describes multimodal inputs for this representative; the selected Mac runtime path still needs checking.Source	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
Gemma 4 12B UnifiedMainstream	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	UnknownNo model-specific public tool-calling result is strong enough for a positive claim in this snapshot.	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.
Gemma 4 26B-A4BBoundary	Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source	System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source	UnknownNo model-specific public tool-calling result is strong enough for a positive claim in this snapshot.	UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.	UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.	UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

Qwen3.8 27BSmall

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: Official supportThe current Qwen material documents tool or agent paths. The exact model template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 180B (6B active)Mainstream

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: Official supportThe current Qwen material documents tool or agent paths. The exact model template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: Official supportThe current model documentation describes multimodal inputs for this representative; the selected Mac runtime path still needs checking.Source
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

Qwen3.8 2.4T-A95BBoundary

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: Official supportThe current Qwen material documents tool or agent paths. The exact model template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

DeepSeek-V4-Flash 284B-A13BMainstream

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,048,576 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: Official supportThe official DeepSeek V4 material documents tool use in the model family. The exact local template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

DeepSeek-V4-Pro 1.6T-A49BBoundary

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,048,576 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: Official supportThe official DeepSeek V4 material documents tool use in the model family. The exact local template and runtime still need a workflow check.Source
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

GLM-5.3-Flash 320B-A18BMainstream

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,000,000 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: Official supportThe official GLM-5.3 material documents function calling and agent capabilities. It is not a Mac runtime integration benchmark.Source
JSON: Public benchmarkPublic GLM evaluations cover agentic or structured tasks, but they do not establish JSON validity in every client.Source
Vision: Official supportThe current model documentation describes multimodal inputs for this representative; the selected Mac runtime path still needs checking.Source
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

GLM-5.3 744B-A40BBoundary

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 1,000,000 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: Official supportThe official GLM-5.3 material documents function calling and agent capabilities. It is not a Mac runtime integration benchmark.Source
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

Gemma 4 E2BSmall

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 131,072 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: UnknownNo model-specific public tool-calling result is strong enough for a positive claim in this snapshot.
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: Official supportThe current model documentation describes multimodal inputs for this representative; the selected Mac runtime path still needs checking.Source
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

Gemma 4 12B UnifiedMainstream

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: UnknownNo model-specific public tool-calling result is strong enough for a positive claim in this snapshot.
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

Gemma 4 26B-A4BBoundary

Context: Official supportPublic model metadata lists 262,144 tokens. This is not proof that the selected Mac can hold that context with the weights.Source
Concurrency: System inferenceConcurrency is inferred only from memory budget and runtime architecture. No apples-to-apples public concurrency benchmark is attached.Source
Tool calling: UnknownNo model-specific public tool-calling result is strong enough for a positive claim in this snapshot.
JSON: UnknownStructured JSON behavior depends on the exact model template, runtime parser, and client; no exact public result is registered here.
Vision: UnknownVision support is not assumed from family branding or an unrelated model variant.
Sustained: UnknownNo public, comparable sustained Apple Silicon run is registered for this model and Mac configuration.

How to read the labels

Official support Official model/runtime documentation describes the capability path; exact client behavior still needs checking.
Public benchmark A published evaluation exists, but it is not a Mac throughput or workflow benchmark.
Community reported Public reports or community artifacts are useful signals, not project tests or vendor guarantees.
System inference A bounded inference from capacity/runtime architecture, not an observed result.
Unknown No reliable public evidence captured for this exact claim.
Project verified Only an exact model, quantization, runtime, and machine tuple in the project smoke ledger.

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Primary sources

Questions people ask

Clear answers before you buy

Is this a benchmark run by Keep or Upgrade?

No. This is a public-evidence synthesis and planning tool. It combines model cards, public artifact metadata, runtime documentation, published evaluations, and labeled community reports from Reddit, GitHub, Hugging Face, tech media, and public videos. Only an exact project smoke tuple is marked project verified.

How is Mac capacity calculated?

The tool uses the selected public model artifact size when an exact file or shard total is available. Otherwise it uses a clearly labeled planning estimate. The model budget reserves memory for macOS, runtime overhead, and context; it is not a promise that the workflow will be comfortable.

Do active MoE parameters mean the model needs less memory?

No. Stored weights are the capacity gate. Active parameters help explain per-token compute, but they do not remove the need to keep the full stored model package available.

Can a model with an official context window run that context on every Mac?

No. The context window is model metadata. The selected Mac must also have enough memory after weights, runtime overhead, the operating system, and other applications are accounted for.

Should I buy a Mac from this table?

Use the current-model table to narrow the planning range, then run the free Advisor with your current Mac, context length, concurrency, client, budget, compatibility, and offline requirements. Public evidence is not a first-party benchmark or a purchase guarantee.

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