Is unified memory on MacBook Air M3 24GB as fast as VRAM for EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct?

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.

Can EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct run on MacBook Air M3 24GB?

YES — Runs Great

C45Usable

Estimated from fit model

EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct needs ~5.2 GB VRAM. MacBook Air M3 24GB has 17.3 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~34 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory bandwidth

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) — 5.2 GB, 33.6 tok/s, Runs well

5.2 GB required17.3 GB available

30% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

33.6 tok/s

TTFT

5762 ms

Safe context

701K

Memory

5.2 GB / 17.3 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights1.5 GB

KV Cache0.3 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom2.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsEXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct on MacBook Air M3 24GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 33.6 tok/s decode · 5.8s TTFT (warm) · 84 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	C	Runs well	33.6 tok/s	3143 ms	701K
Coding	C	Runs well	33.6 tok/s	5762 ms	701K
Agentic Coding	C	Runs well	33.6 tok/s	8381 ms	701K
Reasoning	C	Runs well	33.6 tok/s	6810 ms	701K
RAG	C	Runs well	33.6 tok/s	10476 ms	701K

Quantization options

How EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct (2.4000000953674316B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Air M3 24GB (17.3 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	0.9 GB	Low	C45
Q3_K_S	3	1.2 GB	Low	C45
NVFP4	4

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-lmstudio-community--exaone-3-5-2-4b-instruct-gguf && lms server start

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Air M3 24GB run EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct?

Yes, MacBook Air M3 24GB can run EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 33.6 tok/s.

How much VRAM does EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct need?

EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct (2.4000000953674316B parameters) requires approximately 5.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct?

The recommended quantization for EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct run at on MacBook Air M3 24GB?

On MacBook Air M3 24GB, EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct achieves approximately 33.6 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5762ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Air M3 24GB run EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct for coding?

For coding workloads, EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct on MacBook Air M3 24GB receives a C grade with 33.6 tok/s and 701K context.

What context window can EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct use on MacBook Air M3 24GB?

On MacBook Air M3 24GB, EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct can safely use up to 701K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

See all results for MacBook Air M3 24GB See all hardware for EXAONE 3.5 2.4B Instruct

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