Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated February 28, 2024
Yes
Yes — StarCoder 2 15B at Q4_K_M needs about 10.8 GB of the 12 GB usable on MacBook Air (M4, 16 GB) (~1.2 GB spare), at ~6.6 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 16,384 tokens of context.
Confidence: high · Recommended quantization: Q4_K_M · Estimated speed: ~6.6 tok/s
| Usable memory for models | 12 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s |
| Form factor | Laptop |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 12 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 32.5 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 31 GB |
| Q8_0 | 17.9 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 16.5 GB |
| Q6_K | 14.2 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 12.7 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 12.5 GB | ✗ No | — | — | 11 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 10.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~6.6 tok/s | 9.4 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 8.1 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~9.2 tok/s | 6.6 GB |
| Q2_K | 6.6 GB | ✓ Yes | 16K | ~11.7 tok/s | 5.1 GB |
| Variant | Needs at Q4_K_M | Fits? | Est. speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| StarCoder 2 15B | 10.8 GB | ✓ Fits | ~6.6 tok/s |
| StarCoder 2 7B | 5.7 GB | ✓ Fits | ~13.7 tok/s |
| StarCoder 2 3B | 2.9 GB | ✓ Fits | ~30.8 tok/s |
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
Yes — StarCoder 2 15B at Q4_K_M needs about 10.8 GB of the 12 GB usable on MacBook Air (M4, 16 GB) (~1.2 GB spare), at ~6.6 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 16,384 tokens of context.
Q4_K_M — it needs about 10.8 GB of the 12 GB available, downloads as roughly 9.4 GB, and runs at an estimated 6.6 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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