Models › Gemma 4 12B › Apple M4 (16 GB)
Can I run Gemma 4 12B on Apple M4 (16 GB)?
Yes
Yes. Gemma 4 12B fits fully on the Apple M4 (16 GB) at Q5_K_M (about 10.4 GB of 11 GB usable, 8k context). ESTIMATE
Verdict by quantization (8k context, f16 KV, 32 GB RAM for offload)
| Quant | Needs | Apple M4 (16 GB) (16 GB, ~11 GB GPU-usable) |
|---|---|---|
| Q3_K_M | 7.8 GB | ✅ Fits |
| IQ4_XS | 8.1 GB | ✅ Fits |
| Q4_K_M | 9.1 GB | ✅ Fits |
| MXFP4 | 8.7 GB | ✅ Fits |
| Q5_K_M | 10.4 GB | ⚠️ Fits, tight |
| Q6_K | 11.8 GB | ❌ Doesn't fit |
| Q8_0 | 14.8 GB | ❌ Doesn't fit |
| F16 | 26.6 GB | ❌ Doesn't fit |
Speed ESTIMATE
About 13 tok/s generation at Q4_K_M, scaled from measured Llama 2 7B Q4_0 runs on this chip. Not measured for Gemma 4 12B; submit a benchmark.
Memory figures are estimates from the model's parameter count and config.json (Hugging Face). How we calculate. Last verified with data from 2026-10-22.
FAQ
Can I run Gemma 4 12B on the Apple M4 (16 GB)?
Yes. Gemma 4 12B fits fully on the Apple M4 (16 GB) at Q5_K_M (about 10.4 GB of 11 GB usable, 8k context).
How much VRAM does Gemma 4 12B need?
About 9.1 GB at Q4_K_M and 14.8 GB at Q8_0 with 8k context (estimate).
Gemma 4 12B on other hardware: RTX 3060 12GB · RTX 4060 Ti 16GB · RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · RTX 3090 · RTX 5090 · Apple M4 Pro (48 GB) · Apple M4 Pro (24 GB)
Other models on Apple M4 (16 GB): Qwen3.5 9B · Llama 3.1 8B Instruct · Qwen3 VL 8B
See all models for a 16GB Mac · all Mac sizes.
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