Can I Run Phi-4 Mini on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?
Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated February 4, 2025
Yes — comfortably
Yes, comfortably — Phi-4 Mini (3.8B) at Q8_0 needs about 5.9 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB), leaving ~42.1 GB spare and running at ~29.8 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.
Confidence: high · Recommended quantization: Q8_0 · Estimated speed: ~29.8 tok/s
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Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB) — what it gives a model
| Usable memory for models | 48 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 273 GB/s |
| Form factor | Mini PC |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
Phi-4 Mini on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB): memory by quantization
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 48 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 9.5 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~17.4 tok/s | 7.6 GB |
| Q8_0 | 5.9 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~29.8 tok/s | 4 GB |
| Q6_K | 5 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~36.5 tok/s | 3.1 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 4.6 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~40.7 tok/s | 2.7 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 4.2 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~45.6 tok/s | 2.3 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 3.5 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~57.4 tok/s | 1.6 GB |
| Q2_K | 3.1 GB | ✓ Yes | 64K | ~66.9 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 mini M4 Pro 64 GB limitations
- M4 Pro memory bandwidth is half the M4 Max's, so large models that fit will still generate roughly half as fast.
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 273 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 Phi-4 Mini on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?
Yes, comfortably — Phi-4 Mini (3.8B) at Q8_0 needs about 5.9 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB), leaving ~42.1 GB spare and running at ~29.8 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.
Which quantization of Phi-4 Mini should I use on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)?
Q8_0 — it needs about 5.9 GB of the 48 GB available, downloads as roughly 4 GB, and runs at an estimated 29.8 tokens/sec with up to 64K of context.
What limits Phi-4 Mini on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 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 mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- Poolside Laguna XS 2.1 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- Qwen 2.5 Family on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- Qwen 2.5 VL on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- Qwen 3 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
- Qwen 3.5 on Mac mini (M4 Pro, 64 GB)
Phi-4 Mini on GPUs
- Phi-4 Mini on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB
- Phi-4 Mini on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060
- Phi-4 Mini on NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060
What This Model Is Good At
Model & Tools
← Can I Run It? | Phi-4 Mini model page | Check your hardware