Can I Run Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) on a Apple M3 Pro (18GB)?
Runs at Q4_K_M — good quality with reasonable headroom.
3 quantizations fit your 18.0GB
| Quant | Min VRAM | Recommended | File size | Headroom |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_MBEST | 17.1 GB | 18.6 GB | 16.9 GB | +0.9 GB |
| Q4_K_S | 16.2 GB | 17.7 GB | 16.5 GB | +1.8 GB |
| Q3_K_M | 12.1 GB | 13.6 GB | 12.7 GB | +5.9 GB |
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Top-ranked open-source models that fit in 18.0GB.
FAQ
Can the Apple M3 Pro (18GB) run Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)?
Yes. The Apple M3 Pro (18GB)'s 18.0GB of unified memory is enough to run Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) at Q4_K_M quantization (17.1GB required).
What's the best quantization to use?
Q4_K_M is the highest-precision quantization that fits in your 18.0GB. It uses about 17.1GB of memory and 18.6GB recommended for comfortable inference.
What if I need more headroom for context length?
KV cache memory grows with context length. The numbers above assume a baseline 2K-4K context. For long-context use (32K+), add another 2-6GB depending on the model architecture.