Apple M2 — Local LLM Performance & Compatibility
作者: Jakub Rusinowski · 最后更新: 2026年7月12日
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
| VRAM | 24 GB unified memory |
| Memory Bandwidth | 100 GB/s |
| TDP | 20 W |
| Architecture | ARM, 5nm TSMC |
| Release Year | 2022 |
| MSRP at Launch | $1,099 |
| Inference Speed (Llama 3.1 8B Q4_K_M) | 6.4–13 tok/s (estimated) |
| Inference Speed (Llama 3.3 70B Q4_K_M) | Does not fit — needs ~44 GB of 18 GB usable |
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LLMs Compatible with 24 GB Unified Memory
All models below run comfortably in 24 GB unified memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
| Command R Family | Command R (35B) · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run command-r |
| Qwen 3.5 | Qwen 3.5 35B-A3B · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen3.5:35b-a3b |
| Qwen 3.6 | Qwen 3.6 35B-A3B · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen3.6:35b-a3b |
| Nex-N2 | Nex-N2 mini · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · nex-n2 |
| Yi 1.5 Family | Yi 1.5 34B Chat · 22 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run yi:34b |
| Qwen 3 | Qwen 3 32B · 21 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run qwen3:32b |
| Aya Expanse | Aya Expanse 32B · 20 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run aya-expanse:32b |
| DeepSeek R1 | DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B · 20 GB VRAM · Q4_K_M · ollama run deepseek-r1:32b |
56 more families also fit 24 GB — browse the full model library.
Best Use Cases
- 8B models (Q4)
- MacBook Air
- entry-level
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 is estimated to run Llama 3.1 8B at 6.4–13 tok/s with Q4_K_M quantization. Llama 3.3 70B does not fit: it needs about 44 GB against 18 GB usable. These are modelled estimates, not measurements — see /en/methodology.
What LLMs can I run on 24 GB VRAM?
With 24 GB you can run: Command R Family, Qwen 3.5, Qwen 3.6, Nex-N2, Yi 1.5 Family. Use Ollama for the easiest setup: ollama run llama3.2:3b.
Can I Run It? — Apple M2
- Llama 3.3 on Apple M2
- Nemotron 70B on Apple M2
- Command R Family on Apple M2
- Mistral Family on Apple M2
- Gemma 4 on Apple M2
- Mistral Small 3.1 on Apple M2
- Codestral on Apple M2
- InternLM 3 on Apple M2
Compare Similar GPUs
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VRAM Tier
Buying Guide
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