Can I Run Bonsai 27B on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?

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

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Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB) — what it gives a model

Usable memory for models	48 GB
Memory bandwidth	273 GB/s
Form factor	Mini PC
Operating system	macOS
Memory upgradeable	No — soldered

Bonsai 27B on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB): memory by quantization

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

Which Bonsai 27B sizes fit

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

What to watch out for

This model does not publish its full attention configuration, so the KV-cache share of these figures is inferred from its parameter count rather than computed exactly.
Memory on this machine is not upgradeable, so the configuration you buy is the ceiling for every model you will ever run on it.

Mac mini M4 Pro 64 GB limitations

M4 Pro memory bandwidth is half the M4 Max's, so large models that fit will still generate roughly half as fast.

Recommended setup

Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput

How these numbers are calculated

Memory need = quantized weights + KV cache at 8,192 tokens (f16) + 0.8 GB runtime overhead.
64 GB unified memory at 273 GB/s, shared between CPU and GPU.
macOS reserves a share of unified memory for the system, so not all of it is available to a model.
Throughput is a memory-bandwidth roofline estimate, not a measurement. It is labelled "estimated" everywhere it appears.
KV cache is inferred from the parameter count because this model does not publish its full attention configuration.

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