Can the Apple M4 Pro (48GB) run Llama 3.2 3B?
- FP16
- Q8_0
- Q6_K
- Q5_K_M
- Q4_K_M
- Q3_K_M
- Q2_K
Yes. The Apple M4 Pro (48GB) can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 36 GB available, at roughly 26 tokens/second.
Run it with Ollama
With Ollama installed, one command downloads and starts Llama 3.2 3B:
ollama run llama3.2:3bOllama's default download is Q4_K_M (about 3.5 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 Pro (48GB)
Run it in the cloud
No Apple M4 Pro (48GB)? Run Llama 3.2 3B 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 36 GB the Apple M4 Pro (48GB) can use. macOS lets the GPU use about 36 GB of the 48 GB unified memory by default.
| Quant | Quality | Memory | Fits? | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | Full quality | 8 GB | Fits | ~26 tok/s | |
| Q8_0 | Near-lossless | 5 GB | Fits | ~48 tok/s | |
| Q6_K | Excellent | 4.2 GB | Fits | ~62 tok/s | |
| Q5_K_M | Very good | 3.8 GB | Fits | ~72 tok/s | |
| Q4_K_M | Good, most popular | 3.5 GB | Fits | ~84 tok/s | |
| Q3_K_M | Noticeably degraded | 3.1 GB | Fits | ~104 tok/s | |
| Q2_K | Heavily degraded | 2.7 GB | Fits | ~136 tok/s |
GPUs that run Llama 3.2 3B comfortably
Models that run well on the Apple M4 Pro (48GB)
Frequently asked questions
Can Apple M4 Pro (48GB) run Llama 3.2 3B?
Yes. The Apple M4 Pro (48GB) can run Llama 3.2 3B fully in unified memory at FP16 (full quality), using about 8 GB of the 36 GB available, at roughly 26 tokens/second.
How much VRAM does Llama 3.2 3B need?
About 3.5 GB at Q4_K_M with 8,192 tokens of context, and about 8 GB at full FP16 precision.
How fast is Llama 3.2 3B on the Apple M4 Pro (48GB)?
Roughly 26 tokens per second at FP16, estimated from the Apple M4 Pro (48GB)'s 273 GB/s memory bandwidth.