Can I Run Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)?

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated April 5, 2025

Yes

Yes — Llama 4 Scout 17B at Q8_0 needs about 118.2 GB of the 144 GB usable on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB) (~25.8 GB spare), at ~21.7 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 131,072 tokens of context.

Confidence: high · Recommended quantization: Q8_0 · Estimated speed: ~21.7 tok/s

Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB) — what it gives a model

Usable memory for models144 GB
Memory bandwidth800 GB/s
Form factorDesktop
Operating systemmacOS
Memory upgradeableNo — soldered

Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB): memory by quantization

QuantMemory neededFits 144 GB?Max contextEst. speedDownload
F16220.4 GB✗ No218 GB
Q8_0118.2 GB✓ Yes128K~21.7 tok/s115.8 GB
Q6_K91.8 GB✓ Yes256K~27.3 tok/s89.4 GB
Q5_K_M79.7 GB✓ Yes256K~30.9 tok/s77.3 GB
Q4_K_M68.2 GB✓ Yes256K~35.4 tok/s65.8 GB
Q3_K_M48.9 GB✓ Yes256K~46.8 tok/s46.5 GB
Q2_K38.2 GB✓ Yes256K~56.9 tok/s35.8 GB

Which Llama 4 sizes fit

VariantNeeds at Q4_K_MFits?Est. speed
Llama 4 Maverick 17B243.9 GB✗ Too large
Llama 4 Scout 17B68.2 GB✓ Fits~35.4 tok/s

What to watch out for

Mac Studio M2 Ultra 192 GB limitations

Recommended setup

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

How these numbers are calculated

FAQ

Can I run Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)?

Yes — Llama 4 Scout 17B at Q8_0 needs about 118.2 GB of the 144 GB usable on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB) (~25.8 GB spare), at ~21.7 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 131,072 tokens of context.

Which quantization of Llama 4 should I use on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)?

Q8_0 — it needs about 118.2 GB of the 144 GB available, downloads as roughly 115.8 GB, and runs at an estimated 21.7 tokens/sec with up to 128K of context.

What limits Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 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 Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)

Llama 4 on GPUs

What This Model Is Good At

Model & Tools

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