Can I Run Gemma 4 on MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB)?

Autor: Jakub Rusinowski · Ostatnia aktualizacja: 3 czerwca 2026

Yes, but it is tight

Yes, but it is tight — Gemma 4 26B-A4B at Q4_K_M needs about 17 GB of the 18 GB usable on MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB), leaving only ~1 GB before the runtime starts swapping. Expect ~45.9 tok/s (estimated), with room for about 32,768 tokens of context.

Confidence: medium · Recommended quantization: Q4_K_M · Estimated speed: ~45.9 tok/s

Get a personalized upgrade path →

Kup ten sprzęt Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5 Pro, 24 GB) — 24 GB unified memory · 307 GB/s Uruchom w chmurze RTX 4090 w RunPod — od $0.34/godz. · stawka sprawdzona 2026-07

lub porównaj w Vast.ai od $0.35/godz. (typical low · varies)

Jako partner Amazon zarabiamy na kwalifikujących się zakupach. Linki do chmurowych GPU są linkami polecającymi — możemy otrzymać prowizję bez dodatkowych kosztów dla Ciebie.

MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB) — what it gives a model

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)

Gemma 4 on MacBook Pro 14" (M4 Pro, 24 GB): memory by quantization

Quant	Memory needed	Fits 18 GB?	Max context	Est. speed	Download
F16	53.3 GB	✗ No	—	—	52 GB
Q8_0	28.9 GB	✗ No	—	—	27.6 GB
Q6_K	22.6 GB	✗ No	—	—	21.3 GB
Q5_K_M	19.7 GB	✗ No	—	—	18.4 GB
Q4_K_M	17 GB	✓ Yes	32K	~45.9 tok/s	15.7 GB
Q3_K_M	12.4 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~58.6 tok/s	11.1 GB
Q2_K	9.8 GB	✓ Yes	128K	~69.2 tok/s	8.5 GB

Which Gemma 4 sizes fit

Variant	Needs at Q4_K_M	Fits?	Est. speed
Gemma 4 31B	21.4 GB	✗ Too large	—
Gemma 4 26B-A4B	17 GB	✓ Fits	~45.9 tok/s
Gemma 4 12B (Unified)	8.7 GB	✓ Fits	~18.1 tok/s
Gemma 4 E4B	6.8 GB	✓ Fits	~25.6 tok/s
Gemma 4 E2B	4.9 GB	✓ Fits	~37.1 tok/s

What to watch out for

Only ~1 GB of headroom at Q4_K_M: a longer context or a second application can push this into swapping.
1 larger variant of Gemma 4 does not fit and would need CPU offload or different hardware.
Memory on this machine is not upgradeable, so the configuration you buy is the ceiling for every model you will ever run on it.

MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24 GB limitations

Unified memory is soldered and cannot be upgraded after purchase.
24 GB is the practical ceiling for a single mid-size model plus a long context.

Recommended setup

Ollama or LM Studio (Metal) — MLX for the fastest Apple-native throughput

How these numbers are calculated

Memory need = quantized weights + KV cache at 8,192 tokens (f16) + 0.8 GB runtime overhead.
24 GB unified memory at 273 GB/s, shared between CPU and GPU.
macOS reserves a share of unified memory for the system, so not all of it is available to a model.
Throughput is a memory-bandwidth roofline estimate, not a measurement. It is labelled "estimated" everywhere it appears.
KV cache is computed from this model's published attention configuration.

FAQ