Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated June 3, 2026
Yes, but it is tight
Yes, but it is tight — Gemma 4 12B (Unified) at Q6_K needs about 11.9 GB of the 12 GB usable on MacBook Air (M4, 16 GB), leaving only ~0.1 GB before the runtime starts swapping. Expect ~6.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 8,192 tokens of context.
Confidence: low · Recommended quantization: Q6_K · Estimated speed: ~6.2 tok/s
| Usable memory for models | 12 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s |
| Form factor | Laptop |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 12 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 26.1 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 24 GB |
| Q8_0 | 14.9 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 12.8 GB |
| Q6_K | 11.9 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~6.2 tok/s | 9.8 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 10.6 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~7 tok/s | 8.5 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 9.4 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~8.1 tok/s | 7.2 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 7.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 32K | ~11 tok/s | 5.1 GB |
| Q2_K | 6.1 GB | ✓ Yes | 32K | ~13.7 tok/s | 3.9 GB |
| Variant | Needs at Q4_K_M | Fits? | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemma 4 31B | 21.3 GB | ✗ Too large | — |
| Gemma 4 26B-A4B | 18.2 GB | ✗ Too large | — |
| Gemma 4 12B (Unified) | 9.4 GB | ✓ Fits | ~8.1 tok/s |
| Gemma 4 E4B | 6.8 GB | ✓ Fits | ~11.7 tok/s |
| Gemma 4 E2B | 4.9 GB | ✓ Fits | ~17.4 tok/s |
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
Yes, but it is tight — Gemma 4 12B (Unified) at Q6_K needs about 11.9 GB of the 12 GB usable on MacBook Air (M4, 16 GB), leaving only ~0.1 GB before the runtime starts swapping. Expect ~6.2 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 8,192 tokens of context.
Q6_K — it needs about 11.9 GB of the 12 GB available, downloads as roughly 9.8 GB, and runs at an estimated 6.2 tokens/sec with up to 8K 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