Apple M3 — Local LLM Performance & Compatibility

Up to 24 GB unified memory at 100 GB/s — same memory ceiling as M2 but on the 3nm process. Fits 7–8B models at Q4 comfortably. Common in the MacBook Air, iMac, and Mac mini.

Technical Specifications

VRAM24 GB unified memory
Memory Bandwidth100 GB/s
TDP22 W
ArchitectureARM, 3nm TSMC
Release Year2023
MSRP at Launch$1,099
Inference Speed (Llama 3.1 8B Q4_K_M)~32 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 316 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run gemma3:27b
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 M3 run local LLMs?

Yes — the Apple M3 has 24 GB unified memory and runs Up to 24 GB unified memory at 100 GB/s — same memory ceiling as M2 but on the 3nm process. Fits 7–8B models at Q4 comfor

How fast is the Apple M3 for AI inference?

The Apple M3 runs Llama 3.1 8B at ~32 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 3, Phi-4 Mini. Use Ollama for the easiest setup: ollama run llama3.2:3b.

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