NVIDIA RTX 4090 vs Apple M4 Pro (48GB)
Side-by-side local AI comparison — VRAM, memory bandwidth, model compatibility, and estimated tokens per second across 70 open-weight models.
Quick verdict
Apple M4 Pro (48GB) wins for local AI inference. It has 24 GB more VRAM and -73% more memory bandwidth, runs 53 models natively (vs 42), and exclusively fits 11 models the other cannot. Note: NVIDIA RTX 4090 uses CUDA while Apple M4 Pro (48GB) uses METAL — software ecosystem matters for your framework.
Specs comparison
| Spec | NVIDIA RTX 4090 | Apple M4 Pro (48GB) |
|---|---|---|
| VRAM | 24 GB | 48 GB unified |
| Memory type | GDDR6X | LPDDR5X |
| Bandwidth | 1008 GB/s(+269%) | 273 GB/s |
| CPU cores | — | 14 (10P + 4E) |
| Architecture | Ada Lovelace | Apple M4 Pro |
| Backend | CUDA | METAL |
| Tier | Consumer | Laptop |
| Released | 2022 | 2024 |
| Models (native) | 42 | 53 |
Estimated tokens per second
Computed from memory bandwidth and model active-parameter weight. Assumes model fits natively in VRAM.
| Model | NVIDIA RTX 4090 | Apple M4 Pro (48GB) | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.3 70B Instruct(70B) | — | 7.8 t/s(Q4_K_M) | — |
| Qwen 3.6 27B(27B) | 59.7 t/s(Q5_K_M) | 10.1 t/s(Q8) | +491% |
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct(8B) | 63 t/s(FP16) | 17.1 t/s(FP16) | +268% |
| Qwen 2.5 7B Instruct(7.6B) | 66.3 t/s(FP16) | 18 t/s(FP16) | +268% |
Delta is NVIDIA RTX 4090 relative to Apple M4 Pro (48GB).
Only NVIDIA RTX 4090 can run(0)
No exclusive models — Apple M4 Pro (48GB) can run everything NVIDIA RTX 4090 can.
Only Apple M4 Pro (48GB) can run(11)
Both run natively(42)
These models fit in VRAM on both GPUs. Bandwidth determines which runs them faster.
- Mixtral 8x7B Instruct v0.1214.9 t/svs31 t/s
- Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B (MoE)739.2 t/svs100.1 t/s
- Qwen 3.6 35B57.6 t/svs7.8 t/s
- Yi 1.5 34B Chat58.6 t/svs7.9 t/s
- Qwen3 32B61.5 t/svs8.3 t/s
- Qwen 2.5 32B Instruct62 t/svs8.4 t/s
- Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B Instruct62 t/svs8.4 t/s
- DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B62 t/svs8.4 t/s
- Nemotron 3 Nano 30B739.2 t/svs100.1 t/s
- Gemma 4 31B65 t/svs8.8 t/s
- Qwen3 30B-A3B (MoE)591.4 t/svs100.1 t/s
- Gemma 2 27B Instruct59.3 t/svs10 t/s
- Gemma 3 27B Instruct59.7 t/svs10.1 t/s
- Qwen 3.6 27B59.7 t/svs10.1 t/s
- Gemma 4 26B (MoE)466.9 t/svs79 t/s
- Mistral Small 3.1 24B Instruct56 t/svs11.4 t/s
- +26 more on both
Which should you choose?
Choose NVIDIA RTX 4090 if:
- • Faster token generation is the priority
- • You rely on CUDA-based tools (PyTorch, vLLM, Ollama)
Choose Apple M4 Pro (48GB) if:
- • You need to run larger models (>24 GB VRAM)
- • You're on macOS and want native Metal acceleration (MLX, llama.cpp)
- • Unified memory matters (CPU/GPU share the same pool — no data copy overhead)
- • You want the newer architecture and longer driver support lifecycle
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better for local AI, the NVIDIA RTX 4090 or Apple M4 Pro (48GB)?
- For local AI inference, the Apple M4 Pro (48GB) has the edge. It offers 48 GB VRAM (vs 24 GB) and 273 GB/s bandwidth (vs 1008 GB/s), letting it run 53 models natively in VRAM vs 42 for its rival.
- How much VRAM does the NVIDIA RTX 4090 have vs the Apple M4 Pro (48GB)?
- The NVIDIA RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X at 1008 GB/s. The Apple M4 Pro (48GB) has 48 GB of LPDDR5X at 273 GB/s. The Apple M4 Pro (48GB) has 24 GB more VRAM, allowing it to run 11 models the NVIDIA RTX 4090 cannot fit natively.
- Can the NVIDIA RTX 4090 run Llama 3.3 70B?
- The NVIDIA RTX 4090 can run Llama 3.3 70B with CPU offload at Q4_K_M, but at reduced speed.
- Can the Apple M4 Pro (48GB) run Llama 3.3 70B?
- Yes. The Apple M4 Pro (48GB) runs Llama 3.3 70B natively at Q4_K_M quantization at approximately 7.8 tokens per second.
- What is the difference between the NVIDIA RTX 4090 and Apple M4 Pro (48GB) for AI?
- The key difference for AI inference is VRAM and memory bandwidth. The NVIDIA RTX 4090 has 24 GB VRAM at 1008 GB/s (CUDA backend). The Apple M4 Pro (48GB) has 48 GB VRAM at 273 GB/s (METAL backend). VRAM determines which models fit; bandwidth determines tokens per second. The NVIDIA RTX 4090 runs 42 models natively vs 53 for the Apple M4 Pro (48GB).