M1 Max vs M2 Max

One generation apart. M2 Max delivers ~22–26% higher LLM throughput — a meaningful but not dramatic improvement.

M1 Max and M2 Max share the same tier positioning: high-performance MacBook Pro and Mac Studio chips with 30–40 GPU cores and 32–96 GB RAM. The M2 generation brings improved memory bandwidth efficiency, which translates directly to faster LLM token generation.

~22–26% M2 Max speed advantage on 8B–14B models

38-core M2 Max top GPU config (vs 32-core M1 Max)

96 GB M2 Max max RAM (vs 64 GB M1 Max)

3 models shared benchmark data

Benchmark comparison — 3 shared models

Best published result for each model on each chip family. Q4_K Medium quantization. Higher tok/s is better.

Model	M1 Max (best)	M2 Max (best)	Difference
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct Q4_K - Medium	125.8 tok/s M1 Max 32-core GPU, 32 GB	153.0 tok/s M2 Max 38-core GPU, 32 GB	+22%
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct Q4_K - Medium	37.8 tok/s M1 Max 32-core GPU, 64 GB	46.4 tok/s M2 Max 38-core GPU, 96 GB	+23%
Qwen 2.5 14B Instruct Q4_K - Medium	20.1 tok/s M1 Max 32-core GPU, 32 GB	25.2 tok/s M2 Max 38-core GPU, 96 GB	+25%

Data source: benchmarks.json. Reference run data from LocalScore community aggregation.

Chip specs compared

Spec	M1 Max	M2 Max
GPU cores	24 or 32	30 or 38
Memory bandwidth	~400 GB/s	~400 GB/s
Max unified RAM	64 GB	96 GB
Largest model at Q4	32B (fits in 64 GB)	48B+ (fits in 96 GB)
70B models	No (64 GB max is tight)	Marginal (needs 128 GB for Q4)

Neither M1 Max nor M2 Max can comfortably run 70B models — both peak below the ~48 GB needed for a Q4 70B. The RAM ceiling difference (64 GB vs 96 GB) enables M2 Max to run ~48B models that M1 Max can't reach.

Verdict

M2 Max is ~22–26% faster than M1 Max — a real improvement, but not a generation-defining jump.

Going from 37.8 to 46.4 tok/s on Llama 3.1 8B is meaningful for a sustained coding session — roughly 2 seconds faster per typical response. The RAM ceiling difference (64 GB vs 96 GB) is the more important consideration for developers planning to run models larger than 14B. For M1 Max owners: the upgrade is reasonable if you need 96 GB RAM. For pure throughput, M4 Max delivers 55+ tok/s on the same model — the bigger jump.

Considering a bigger upgrade? M4 Max vs M3 Max comparison → shows the more dramatic generational gains in the Max tier.

Chip pages

M1 Max (32-core GPU, 64 GB) M2 Max (38-core GPU, 96 GB)

Related comparisons

M4 Max vs M3 Max M3 Max vs M3 Pro M4 Max vs M4 Pro All generations compared Best Mac buying guide

Data

benchmarks.json — full dataset · chips.json — chip summaries · benchmarks.csv — CSV export

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