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
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Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB) — what it gives a model
| Usable memory for models | 144 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 800 GB/s |
| Form factor | Desktop |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
Llama 4 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB): memory by quantization
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 144 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 220.4 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 218 GB |
| Q8_0 | 118.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 128K | ~21.7 tok/s | 115.8 GB |
| Q6_K | 91.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~27.3 tok/s | 89.4 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 79.7 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~30.9 tok/s | 77.3 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 68.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~35.4 tok/s | 65.8 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 48.9 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~46.8 tok/s | 46.5 GB |
| Q2_K | 38.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 256K | ~56.9 tok/s | 35.8 GB |
Which Llama 4 sizes fit
| Variant | Needs at Q4_K_M | Fits? | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 4 Maverick 17B | 243.9 GB | ✗ Too large | — |
| Llama 4 Scout 17B | 68.2 GB | ✓ Fits | ~35.4 tok/s |
What to watch out for
- 1 larger variant of Llama 4 does not fit and would need CPU offload or different hardware.
- 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 Studio M2 Ultra 192 GB limitations
- Superseded by the M3 Ultra, which is why it is often the better used buy for large-model work.
- Memory is soldered; the configuration chosen at purchase is permanent.
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.
- 192 GB unified memory at 800 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 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 Models on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)
- Llama 4.5 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)
- Magistral Small on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)
- MiMo-V2.5 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)
- MiniCPM-V on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)
- MiniMax M2.5 on Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192 GB)
Llama 4 on GPUs
- Llama 4 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090
- Llama 4 on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
- Llama 4 on Apple M4 Max
- Llama 4 on Apple M4