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 18 GB usable on MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB), leaving ~12.1 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
| 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 | 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 |
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
Yes, comfortably — Phi-4 Mini (3.8B) at Q8_0 needs about 5.9 GB of the 18 GB usable on MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB), leaving ~12.1 GB spare and running at ~29.8 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 65,536 tokens of context.
Q8_0 — it needs about 5.9 GB of the 18 GB available, downloads as roughly 4 GB, and runs at an estimated 29.8 tokens/sec with up to 64K 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
← Can I Run It? | Phi-4 Mini model page | Check your hardware