StarCoder2 3B needs ~4.8 GB VRAM. MacBook Air M1 16GB has 11.5 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~22 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
22.3 tok/s
TTFT
8684 ms
Safe context
321K
Memory
4.8 GB / 11.5 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 | 22.3 tok/s | 4736 ms | 321K |
| Coding | C | Runs well | 22.3 tok/s | 8684 ms | 321K |
| Agentic Coding | C | Runs well | 22.3 tok/s | 12631 ms | 321K |
| Reasoning | C | Runs well | 22.3 tok/s | 10262 ms | 321K |
| RAG | C | Runs well | 22.3 tok/s | 15788 ms | 321K |
Inference speed
Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for StarCoder2 3B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~57 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 | 57.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4090 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 48.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4080 Super 16GB | 16 GB | Q4_K_M | 48.0 | Fits |
| RTX 3090 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4070 12GB | 12 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
| RTX 3060 12GB | 12 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
| RTX 4060 8GB | 8 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
RX 7900 XTX 24GB | 24 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB | 256 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB | 128 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB | 64 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB | 48 GB | Q4_K_M | 42.0 | Fits |
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.
How StarCoder2 3B (3B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Air M1 16GB (11.5 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 1.2 GB | Low | C47 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 1.5 GB | Low | C48 |
NVFP4 | 4 | 1.7 GB | Medium | C48 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 1.8 GB | Medium | C48 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 2.2 GB | High | C48 |
Q6_K | 6 | 2.5 GB | High | C49 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 3.2 GB | Very High | C50 |
F16Best for your GPU | 16 | 6.1 GB | Maximum | C52 |
Copy-paste commands to run StarCoder2 3B on your machine.
Run
lms load hf-second-state--starcoder2-3b-gguf && lms server startUpgrade options
Raises estimated decode speed by about 88%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,099 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 88%.
~$1,999 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 88%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,999 MSRP
Yes, MacBook Air M1 16GB can run StarCoder2 3B with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 22.3 tok/s.
StarCoder2 3B (3B parameters) requires approximately 4.8 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for StarCoder2 3B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On MacBook Air M1 16GB, StarCoder2 3B achieves approximately 22.3 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 8684ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, StarCoder2 3B on MacBook Air M1 16GB receives a C grade with 22.3 tok/s and 321K context.
On MacBook Air M1 16GB, StarCoder2 3B can safely use up to 321K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.
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.
Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.
<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/hf-second-state--starcoder2-3b-gguf-on-m1-16gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
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