Can I Run Phi 3.5 Family on Mac Studio (M4 Max, 64 GB)?

Superseded model. Phi 3.5 Family has been superseded by Phi-4 Family. This page is kept for reference; the newer family is a better starting point. View Phi-4 Family →

Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated August 20, 2024

Yes — comfortably

Yes, comfortably — Phi 3.5 Mini at Q8_0 needs about 5.6 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac Studio (M4 Max, 64 GB), leaving ~42.4 GB spare and running at ~56.1 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 131,072 tokens of context.

Confidence: high · Recommended quantization: Q8_0 · Estimated speed: ~56.1 tok/s

Mac Studio (M4 Max, 64 GB) — what it gives a model

Usable memory for models	48 GB
Memory bandwidth	546 GB/s
Form factor	Desktop
Operating system	macOS
Memory upgradeable	No — soldered

Phi 3.5 Family on Mac Studio (M4 Max, 64 GB): memory by quantization

Quant	Memory needed	Fits 48 GB?	Max context	Est. speed	Download
F16	9.2 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~33.6 tok/s	7.6 GB
Q8_0	5.6 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~56.1 tok/s	4 GB
Q6_K	4.7 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~67.8 tok/s	3.1 GB
Q5_K_M	4.3 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~74.9 tok/s	2.7 GB
Q4_K_M	3.9 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~83.3 tok/s	2.3 GB
Q3_K_M	3.2 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~102.5 tok/s	1.6 GB
Q2_K	2.9 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~117.4 tok/s	1.2 GB

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.

Mac Studio M4 Max 64 GB limitations

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.
64 GB unified memory at 546 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