Can I Run Phi 3.5 Family on MacBook Pro 16" (M4 Max, 128 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Superseded model. Phi 3.5 Family has been superseded by Phi-4 Family.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 96 GB usable on MacBook Pro 16" (M4 Max, 128 GB), leaving ~90.4 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

MacBook Pro 16" (M4 Max, 128 GB) — what it gives a model

Usable memory for models	96 GB
Memory bandwidth	546 GB/s
Form factor	Laptop
Operating system	macOS
Memory upgradeable	No — soldered

Phi 3.5 Family on MacBook Pro 16" (M4 Max, 128 GB): memory by quantization

Quant	Memory needed	Fits 96 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.

MacBook Pro M4 Max 128 GB limitations

Unified memory is soldered — the 128 GB decision is permanent and cannot be upgraded later.
Sustained decode speed on battery is materially below the plugged-in figures quoted here.

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 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.

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