Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated July 15, 2026
Yes — comfortably
Yes, comfortably — 1-bit Bonsai 27B at Q8_0 needs about 31.2 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB), leaving ~16.8 GB spare and running at ~5 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.
Confidence: medium · Recommended quantization: Q8_0 · Estimated speed: ~5 tok/s
| Usable memory for models | 48 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 273 GB/s |
| Form factor | Mini PC |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 48 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 56.5 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 54 GB |
| Q8_0 | 31.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~5 tok/s | 28.7 GB |
| Q6_K | 24.7 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~6.4 tok/s | 22.1 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 21.7 GB | ✓ Yes | 128K | ~7.3 tok/s | 19.1 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 18.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 128K | ~8.5 tok/s | 16.3 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 14.1 GB | ✓ Yes | 128K | ~11.7 tok/s | 11.5 GB |
| Q2_K | 11.4 GB | ✓ Yes | 128K | ~14.7 tok/s | 8.9 GB |
| Variant | Needs at Q4_K_M | Fits? | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-bit Bonsai 27B | 18.8 GB | ✓ Fits | ~8.5 tok/s |
| Ternary Bonsai 27B | 18.8 GB | ✓ Fits | ~8.5 tok/s |
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
Yes, comfortably — 1-bit Bonsai 27B at Q8_0 needs about 31.2 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB), leaving ~16.8 GB spare and running at ~5 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.
Q8_0 — it needs about 31.2 GB of the 48 GB available, downloads as roughly 28.7 GB, and runs at an estimated 5 tokens/sec with up to 64K of context.
Nothing binding — the model fits with headroom and generates at a usable speed on this hardware.
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
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