Can I Run Cosmos 3 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?
Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated July 21, 2026
Yes
Yes — Cosmos 3 Super at Q4_K_M needs about 41.8 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB) (~6.2 GB spare), at ~7.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 16,384 tokens of context.
Confidence: medium · Recommended quantization: Q4_K_M · Estimated speed: ~7.2 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 |
Cosmos 3 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB): memory by quantization
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 48 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 131.1 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 128 GB |
| Q8_0 | 71.1 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 68 GB |
| Q6_K | 55.6 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 52.5 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 48.5 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 45.4 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 41.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~7.2 tok/s | 38.6 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 30.4 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~9.8 tok/s | 27.3 GB |
| Q2_K | 24.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~12.3 tok/s | 21 GB |
Which Cosmos 3 sizes fit
| Variant | Needs at Q4_K_M | Fits? | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmos 3 Super | 41.8 GB | ✓ Fits | ~7.2 tok/s |
| Cosmos 3 Nano | 11.9 GB | ✓ Fits | ~24.9 tok/s |
| Cosmos 3 Edge | 4.1 GB | ✓ Fits | ~70.9 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.
FAQ
Can I run Cosmos 3 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?
Yes — Cosmos 3 Super at Q4_K_M needs about 41.8 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB) (~6.2 GB spare), at ~7.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 16,384 tokens of context.
Which quantization of Cosmos 3 should I use on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?
Q4_K_M — it needs about 41.8 GB of the 48 GB available, downloads as roughly 38.6 GB, and runs at an estimated 7.2 tokens/sec with up to 16K of context.
What limits Cosmos 3 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?
Nothing binding — the model fits with headroom and generates at a usable speed on this hardware.
Which runtime should I use?
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
Other Computers
Other Models on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- DeepSeek-OCR on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- DeepSeek R1 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- Devstral on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- EXAONE 3.5 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- Falcon 3 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
Cosmos 3 on GPUs
- Cosmos 3 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080
- Cosmos 3 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti
- Cosmos 3 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
- Cosmos 3 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB