Written by Jakub Rusinowski · Last updated February 17, 2026
Yes — comfortably
Yes, comfortably — Aya 3B at Q8_0 needs about 4.8 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac Studio (M4 Max, 64 GB), leaving ~43.2 GB spare and running at ~66.4 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 8,192 tokens of context.
Confidence: medium · Recommended quantization: Q8_0 · Estimated speed: ~66.4 tok/s
| Usable memory for models | 48 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 546 GB/s |
| Form factor | Desktop |
| Operating system | macOS |
| Memory upgradeable | No — soldered |
| Quant | Memory needed | Fits 48 GB? | Max context | Est. speed | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F16 | 7.6 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~40.9 tok/s | 6 GB |
| Q8_0 | 4.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~66.4 tok/s | 3.2 GB |
| Q6_K | 4.1 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~79.2 tok/s | 2.5 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 3.8 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~86.9 tok/s | 2.1 GB |
| Q4_K_M | 3.5 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~95.7 tok/s | 1.8 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 2.9 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~115.3 tok/s | 1.3 GB |
| Q2_K | 2.6 GB | ✓ Yes | 8K | ~129.9 tok/s | 1 GB |
Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput
Yes, comfortably — Aya 3B at Q8_0 needs about 4.8 GB of the 48 GB usable on Mac Studio (M4 Max, 64 GB), leaving ~43.2 GB spare and running at ~66.4 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 8,192 tokens of context.
Q8_0 — it needs about 4.8 GB of the 48 GB available, downloads as roughly 3.2 GB, and runs at an estimated 66.4 tokens/sec with up to 8K 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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