Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated March 17, 2025
Yes, but it is tight
Yes, but it is tight — Mistral Small 3.1 24B at Q4_K_M needs about 16.4 GB of the 18 GB usable on MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB), leaving only ~1.6 GB before the runtime starts swapping. Expect ~9.7 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 16,384 tokens of context.
Confidence: medium · Recommended quantization: Q4_K_M · Estimated speed: ~9.7 tok/s
| Usable memory for models | 18 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 273 GB/s |
| Form factor | Laptop |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
| Price | $1,999 (lib/data/laptops.ts (street price), checked 2026-07-06) |
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 18 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 49.3 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 47.2 GB |
| Q8_0 | 27.2 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 25.1 GB |
| Q6_K | 21.5 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 19.4 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 18.9 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 16.7 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 16.4 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~9.7 tok/s | 14.2 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 12.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 32K | ~13.4 tok/s | 10.1 GB |
| Q2_K | 9.9 GB | ✓ Yes | 32K | ~16.9 tok/s | 7.8 GB |
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
Yes, but it is tight — Mistral Small 3.1 24B at Q4_K_M needs about 16.4 GB of the 18 GB usable on MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB), leaving only ~1.6 GB before the runtime starts swapping. Expect ~9.7 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 16,384 tokens of context.
Q4_K_M — it needs about 16.4 GB of the 18 GB available, downloads as roughly 14.2 GB, and runs at an estimated 9.7 tokens/sec with up to 16K 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
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