Can Granite 4.1 30B run on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

YES — Runs Great

A77Great

Estimated from fit model

Granite 4.1 30B needs ~36.9 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB has 92.2 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~14 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

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.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 36.9 GB, 14.1 tok/s, Runs well

36.9 GB required92.2 GB available

40% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

14.1 tok/s

TTFT

13732 ms

Safe context

131K

Memory

36.9 GB / 92.2 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights18.3 GB

KV Cache3.9 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGranite 4.1 30B on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB
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: 14.1 tok/s decode · 13.7s TTFT (warm) · 35 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

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

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	A	Runs well	14.1 tok/s	7490 ms	131K
Coding	A	Runs well	14.1 tok/s	13732 ms	131K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	14.1 tok/s	19974 ms	131K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	14.1 tok/s	16229 ms	131K
RAG	A	Runs well	14.1 tok/s	24967 ms	131K

Inference speed

Granite 4.1 30B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Granite 4.1 30B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~71 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.

GPU / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q4_K_M	70.5	Tight
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	35.3	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	35.3	Fits
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q4_K_M	32.7	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	29.0	Offloads
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	27.3	Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	26.8	Offloads
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	25.8	Fits
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	24.8	Offloads
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	22.2	Fits
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	14.1	Fits
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	12.9	Fits
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q4_K_M	10.5	Too big
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	3.7	Too big
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	2.3	Too big
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q4_K_M; real tokens/sec varies with prompt length, context, batch size, and runtime build. Prompt processing (prefill) is faster than the decode figures shown here.

Quantization options

How Granite 4.1 30B (30B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	11.7 GB	Low	A72
Q3_K_S	3	14.7 GB	Low	A73
NVFP4	4	16.8 GB	Medium	A73
Q4_K_M	4	18.3 GB	Medium	A73
Q5_K_M	5	21.6 GB	High	A73
Q6_K	6	24.6 GB	High	A74
Q8_0	8	32.1 GB	Very High	A75
F16Best for your GPU	16	61.5 GB	Maximum	A80

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Granite 4.1 30B on your machine.

Run

ollama run granite4.1:30b

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Devstral 2 123B Instruct	123B	S	3.3 tok/s
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	S	36.3 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 122B A10B	122B	S	15 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B	35B	S	33.5 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 35B A3B	35B	S	36.5 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB run Granite 4.1 30B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can run Granite 4.1 30B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 14.1 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Granite 4.1 30B need?

Granite 4.1 30B (30B parameters) requires approximately 36.9 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Granite 4.1 30B?

The recommended quantization for Granite 4.1 30B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Granite 4.1 30B run at on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB, Granite 4.1 30B achieves approximately 14.1 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 13732ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB run Granite 4.1 30B for coding?

For coding workloads, Granite 4.1 30B on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB receives a A grade with 14.1 tok/s and 131K context.

What context window can Granite 4.1 30B use on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB, Granite 4.1 30B can safely use up to 131K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB as fast as VRAM for Granite 4.1 30B?

Not always. MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB 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.

See all results for MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB See all hardware for Granite 4.1 30B

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<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/granite-4.1-30b-on-m3-max-128gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>

Preview:

Workload

Grade

Fit

Decode

TTFT

Context

Chat

Runs well

14.1 tok/s

7490 ms

131K

Coding

Runs well

14.1 tok/s

13732 ms

131K

Agentic Coding

Runs well

14.1 tok/s

19974 ms

131K

Reasoning

Runs well

14.1 tok/s

16229 ms

131K

RAG

Runs well

14.1 tok/s

24967 ms

131K

Granite 4.1 30B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

GPU / Mac

Memory

Quant

Speed (tok/s)

Fits?

RTX 5090 32GB

32 GB

Q4_K_M

70.5

Tight

MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB

128 GB

Q4_K_M

35.3

Fits

MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB

64 GB

Q4_K_M

35.3

Fits

Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB

256 GB

Q4_K_M

32.7

Fits

RTX 4090 24GB

24 GB

Q4_K_M

29.0

Offloads

Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB

128 GB

Q4_K_M

27.3

Fits

RX 7900 XTX 24GB

24 GB

Q4_K_M

26.8

Offloads

Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB

128 GB

Q4_K_M

25.8

Fits

RTX 3090 24GB

24 GB

Q4_K_M

24.8

Offloads

MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB

48 GB

Q4_K_M

22.2

Fits

MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB

64 GB

Q4_K_M

14.1

Fits

MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB

64 GB

Q4_K_M

12.9

Fits

RTX 4080 Super 16GB

16 GB

Q4_K_M

10.5

Too big

RTX 4070 12GB

12 GB

Q4_K_M

3.7

Too big

RTX 3060 12GB

12 GB

Q4_K_M

2.3

Too big

RTX 4060 8GB

8 GB

Q4_K_M

2.0

Too big

Quantization options

How Granite 4.1 30B (30B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	11.7 GB	Low	A72
Q3_K_S	3	14.7 GB	Low	A73
NVFP4	4	16.8 GB	Medium	A73
Q4_K_M	4	18.3 GB	Medium	A73
Q5_K_M	5	21.6 GB	High	A73
Q6_K	6	24.6 GB	High	A74
Q8_0	8	32.1 GB	Very High	A75
F16Best for your GPU	16	61.5 GB	Maximum	A80

Model

Params

Grade

Decode

Capabilities

Devstral 2 123B Instruct

123B

3.3 tok/s

Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct

30.5B

36.3 tok/s

Qwen 3.5 122B A10B

122B

15 tok/s

Qwen 3.6 35B A3B

35B

33.5 tok/s

Qwen 3.5 35B A3B

35B

36.5 tok/s