Can the Apple M4 Max (128GB) run Qwen2.5 7B?
- FP16
- Q8_0
- Q6_K
- Q5_K_M
- Q4_K_M
- Q3_K_M
- Q2_K
Yes. The Apple M4 Max (128GB) can run Qwen2.5 7B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 16.3 GB of the 96 GB available, at roughly 21 tokens/second.
Run it with Ollama
With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Qwen2.5 7B:
ollama run qwen2.5:7bOllama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 5.7 GB here). You have room for FP16, which is full quality: pick that GGUF in LM Studio or from Hugging Face.
New to this? Step-by-step setup for the Apple M4 Max (128GB)
Run it in the cloud
No Apple M4 Max (128GB)? Run Qwen2.5 7B in the cloud.
Rent a cloud GPU by the hour. No upfront cost, stop any time.
Memory needed by quantization
At 8,192 tokens of context. The black line marks the 96 GB the Apple M4 Max (128GB) can use. macOS lets the GPU use about 96 GB of the 128 GB unified memory by default.
| Quant | Quality | Memory | Fits? | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full quality | 16.3 GB | Fits | ~21 tok/s | |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 9.2 GB | Fits | ~40 tok/s | |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 7.3 GB | Fits | ~52 tok/s | |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 6.5 GB | Fits | ~60 tok/s | |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 5.7 GB | Fits | ~71 tok/s | |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 4.8 GB | Fits | ~88 tok/s | |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 3.9 GB | Fits | ~115 tok/s |
GPUs that run Qwen2.5 7B comfortably
Models that run well on the Apple M4 Max (128GB)
Frequently asked questions
Can Apple M4 Max (128GB) run Qwen2.5 7B?
Yes. The Apple M4 Max (128GB) can run Qwen2.5 7B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 16.3 GB of the 96 GB available, at roughly 21 tokens/second.
How much VRAM does Qwen2.5 7B need?
About 5.7 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 16.3 GB at full FP16 precision.
How fast is Qwen2.5 7B on the Apple M4 Max (128GB)?
Roughly 21 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the Apple M4 Max (128GB)'s 546 GB/s memory bandwidth.