Apple M2 — Local LLM Performance & Compatibility

Up to 24 GB unified memory at 100 GB/s. Comfortably fits 7–8B models at Q4 with room for the OS. Common in the MacBook Air and Mac mini.

Technical Specifications

VRAM24 GB unified memory
Memory Bandwidth100 GB/s
TDP20 W
ArchitectureARM, 5nm TSMC
Release Year2022
MSRP at Launch$1,099
Inference Speed (Llama 3.1 8B Q4_K_M)~30 tokens/sec

LLMs Compatible with 24 GB Unified Memory

All models below run comfortably in 24 GB unified memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

Llama 3.1 Family6 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run llama3.1
Llama 3.2 Family8 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run llama3.2-vision:11b
Qwen 2.5 Family20 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen2.5-coder:32b
Gemma 2 Family8 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run gemma2
Phi-4 Mini2 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run phi4-mini
Mistral Family16 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run mistral-small
SmolLM21 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run smollm2:1.7b

Best Use Cases

Quick Start with Ollama

Install Ollama then run the recommended model for this GPU:

ollama run llama3.2:3b

FAQ

Can the Apple M2 run local LLMs?

Yes — the Apple M2 has 24 GB unified memory and runs Up to 24 GB unified memory at 100 GB/s. Comfortably fits 7–8B models at Q4 with room for the OS. Common in the MacBook A

How fast is the Apple M2 for AI inference?

The Apple M2 runs Llama 3.1 8B at ~30 tokens/sec with Q4_K_M quantization.

What LLMs can I run on 24 GB VRAM?

With 24 GB you can run: Llama 3.1 Family, Llama 3.2 Family, Qwen 2.5 Family, Gemma 2 Family, Phi-4 Mini. Use Ollama for the easiest setup: ollama run llama3.2:3b.

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