Can I Run Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)?
Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated September 25, 2024
Yes — comfortably
Yes, comfortably — Llama 3.2 Vision 90B at Q5_K_M needs about 67.1 GB of the 96 GB usable on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB), leaving ~28.9 GB spare and running at ~5.1 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.
Confidence: high · Recommended quantization: Q5_K_M · Estimated speed: ~5.1 tok/s
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MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB) — what it gives a model
| Usable memory for models | 96 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 614 GB/s |
| Form factor | Laptop |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB): memory by quantization
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 96 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 181.8 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 177.6 GB |
| Q8_0 | 98.5 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 94.4 GB |
| Q6_K | 77 GB | ✓ Yes | 32K | ~4.5 tok/s | 72.8 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 67.1 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~5.1 tok/s | 62.9 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 57.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~6 tok/s | 53.6 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 42 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~8.3 tok/s | 37.9 GB |
| Q2_K | 33.3 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~10.6 tok/s | 29.2 GB |
Which Llama 3.2 Vision sizes fit
| Variant | Needs at Q4_K_M | Fits? | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.2 Vision 90B | 57.8 GB | ✓ Fits | ~6 tok/s |
| Llama 3.2 Vision 11B | 8.5 GB | ✓ Fits | ~41.6 tok/s |
What to watch out for
- Memory on this machine is not upgradeable, so the configuration you buy is the ceiling for every model you will ever run on it.
MacBook Pro M5 Max 128 GB limitations
- Unified memory is soldered and cannot be upgraded after purchase.
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.
- 128 GB unified memory at 614 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 computed from this model's published attention configuration.
FAQ
Can I run Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)?
Yes, comfortably — Llama 3.2 Vision 90B at Q5_K_M needs about 67.1 GB of the 96 GB usable on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB), leaving ~28.9 GB spare and running at ~5.1 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.
Which quantization of Llama 3.2 Vision should I use on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)?
Q5_K_M — it needs about 67.1 GB of the 96 GB available, downloads as roughly 62.9 GB, and runs at an estimated 5.1 tokens/sec with up to 64K of context.
What limits Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 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
- Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128 GB
- Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48 GB
- Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24 GB
- Llama 3.2 Vision on MacBook Air M4 16 GB
Other Models on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)
- Llama 3.3 on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)
- Llama 4 on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)
- Llama 4.5 on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)
- Magistral Small on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)
- MiniCPM-V on MacBook Pro 16" (M5 Max, 128 GB)
Llama 3.2 Vision on GPUs
- Llama 3.2 Vision on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070
- Llama 3.2 Vision on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB
- Llama 3.2 Vision on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060
- Llama 3.2 Vision on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti
What This Model Is Good At
Model & Tools
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