NousResearch Hermes 4 14B needs ~13.7 GB VRAM. MacBook Air M3 24GB has 17.3 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~8 tok/s.
Operating mode
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.
Select quantization to explore
Fit status
Runs well
Decode
8.0 tok/s
TTFT
24314 ms
Safe context
51K
Memory
13.7 GB / 17.3 GB
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.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | C | Runs well | 8.0 tok/s | 13262 ms | 51K |
| Coding | C | Runs well | 8.0 tok/s | 24314 ms | 51K |
| Agentic Coding | C | Tight fit | 8.0 tok/s | 35366 ms | 51K |
| Reasoning | C | Runs well | 8.0 tok/s | 28735 ms | 51K |
| RAG | C | Tight fit | 8.0 tok/s | 44207 ms | 51K |
How NousResearch Hermes 4 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Air M3 24GB (17.3 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 5.5 GB | Low | C48 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 6.9 GB | Low | C50 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run NousResearch Hermes 4 14B on your machine.
Run
lms load hf-bartowski--nousresearch-hermes-4-14b-gguf && lms server startUpgrade options
Raises estimated decode speed by about 240%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,999 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 105%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,999 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 90%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,999 MSRP
Yes, MacBook Air M3 24GB can run NousResearch Hermes 4 14B with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 8.0 tok/s.
NousResearch Hermes 4 14B (14B parameters) requires approximately 13.7 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for NousResearch Hermes 4 14B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On MacBook Air M3 24GB, NousResearch Hermes 4 14B achieves approximately 8.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 24314ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, NousResearch Hermes 4 14B on MacBook Air M3 24GB receives a C grade with 8.0 tok/s and 51K context.
On MacBook Air M3 24GB, NousResearch Hermes 4 14B can safely use up to 51K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/hf-bartowski--nousresearch-hermes-4-14b-gguf-on-m3-air-24gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
7.8 GB |
| Medium |
| C51 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 8.5 GB | Medium | C51 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 10.1 GB | High | C51 |
Q6_KBest for your GPU | 6 | 11.5 GB | High | C51 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 15.0 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 28.7 GB | Maximum | F0 |
Not always. MacBook Air M3 24GB 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.