Is unified memory on MacBook Air M1 16GB as fast as VRAM for Codestral 22B?

Not always. MacBook Air M1 16GB can often fit larger models thanks to unified memory, but a discrete GPU with dedicated high-bandwidth VRAM may still decode faster once the model fits. For this combination, the important distinction is capacity versus sustained throughput.

Can Codestral 22B run on MacBook Air M1 16GB?

Q: What should I upgrade first if Codestral 22B feels slow on MacBook Air M1 16GB?

Remove offload with more accelerator memory. Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

YES — With Q2_K

D38Poor

Estimated from fit model

Codestral 22B needs ~13.6 GB VRAM. MacBook Air M1 16GB has 11.5 GB. With Q2_K quantization, expect ~3 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Codestral 22B at Q4_K_M needs 18.5 GB — too much for MacBook Air M1 16GB (11.5 GB). Runs at Q2_K (13.6 GB) with low quality.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 18.5 GB, exceeds 11.5 GB available

18.5 GB required11.5 GB available

161% VRAM needed

7.0 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

2.0 tok/s

TTFT

96800 ms

Safe context

Memory

18.5 GB / 11.5 GB

Offload

40%

Memory breakdown

Weights13.4 GB

KV Cache2.4 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom1.7 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower

See how fast it feelsCodestral 22B on MacBook Air M1 16GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Write a Python function to sort a list
Here's a Python function that sorts a list using quicksort:

def quicksort(arr):
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

# Example usage
numbers = [3, 6, 8, 10, 1, 2, 1]
print(quicksort(numbers))  # [1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10]

The algorithm picks a pivot, partitions the list into smaller, equal, and larger elements, then recursively sorts each partition and concatenates the results.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>Now add type hints and a docstring
def quicksort(arr: list[int]) -> list[int]:
    """Sort a list using the quicksort algorithm.

    Args:
        arr: List of integers to sort.

    Returns:
        A new sorted list.
    """
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

Added type hints for the input and return type, plus a Google-style docstring.
Estimated: 2.0 tok/s decode · 96.8s TTFT (warm) · 5 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 20% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

Shared-memory contention still exists

The OS, browser, and inference runtime all compete for the same physical memory pool, so real-world headroom is less forgiving than raw capacity suggests.

Best improvement path

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly 1.3 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	52800 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	96800 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	140800 ms	4K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	114400 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	176000 ms	4K

Quantization options

How Codestral 22B (22B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Air M1 16GB (11.5 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	8.6 GB	Low	F0
Q3_K_S	3	10.8 GB	Low	F0
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Codestral 22B on your machine.

Run

ollama run codestral

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Codestral 22B well

MacBook Pro M4 32GBBudget pick

32 GB Unified (+16)120 GB/s (+52)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.9.7 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$799 MSRP

Mac mini M4 32GBBest value

32 GB Unified (+16)120 GB/s (+52)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.9.7 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$1,099 MSRP

Mac mini M4 64GBApple upgrade

64 GB Unified (+48)120 GB/s (+52)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.9.7 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

~$1,099 MSRP

RTX 5090 Laptop 24GBBiggest leap

24 GB VRAM (+8)896 GB/s (+828)

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.57.3 tok/s decode

Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.

Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Air M1 16GB run Codestral 22B?

Yes, MacBook Air M1 16GB can run Codestral 22B at Q2_K quantization (Very compromised (needs ~1.3 GB host RAM)). The recommended Q4_K_M requires 18.5 GB which exceeds available memory, but at Q2_K it needs only 13.6 GB. Expected decode speed: 3.4 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Codestral 22B need?

Codestral 22B (22B parameters) requires approximately 18.5 GB at Q4_K_M quantization. On MacBook Air M1 16GB, it fits at Q2_K using 13.6 GB.

What is the best quantization for Codestral 22B?

The recommended quantization is Q4_K_M, but on MacBook Air M1 16GB the best fitting quantization is Q2_K, which uses 13.6 GB.

What speed will Codestral 22B run at on MacBook Air M1 16GB?

On MacBook Air M1 16GB, Codestral 22B achieves approximately 3.4 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 57582ms using Q2_K quantization.

Can MacBook Air M1 16GB run Codestral 22B for coding?

For coding workloads, Codestral 22B on MacBook Air M1 16GB receives a F grade with 2.0 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can Codestral 22B use on MacBook Air M1 16GB?

On MacBook Air M1 16GB, Codestral 22B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context at Q2_K quantization. The model's official context limit is 33K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for MacBook Air M1 16GB See all hardware for Codestral 22B

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