MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GBBudget pick
36 GB Unified (+4)410 GB/s (+210)
C
Raises estimated decode speed by about 117%.65.9 tok/s decode
Raises estimated decode speed by about 117%.
~$2,499 MSRP
zephyr 7B alpha needs ~9.4 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M1 Pro 32GB has 23.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~30 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
30.4 tok/s
TTFT
6359 ms
Safe context
281K
Memory
9.4 GB / 23.0 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 | 30.4 tok/s | 3469 ms | 281K |
| Coding | C | Runs well | 30.4 tok/s | 6359 ms | 281K |
| Agentic Coding | C | Runs well | 30.4 tok/s | 9249 ms | 281K |
| Reasoning | C | Runs well | 30.4 tok/s | 7515 ms | 281K |
| RAG | C | Runs well | 30.4 tok/s | 11562 ms | 281K |
How zephyr 7B alpha (7B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M1 Pro 32GB (23.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 2.7 GB | Low | C44 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 3.4 GB | Low | C45 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run zephyr 7B alpha on your machine.
Run
lms load hf-thebloke--zephyr-7b-alpha-gguf && lms server startUpgrade options
Raises estimated decode speed by about 117%.
~$2,499 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 189%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$2,499 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 85%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$2,499 MSRP
Yes, MacBook Pro M1 Pro 32GB can run zephyr 7B alpha with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 30.4 tok/s.
zephyr 7B alpha (7B parameters) requires approximately 9.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for zephyr 7B alpha is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On MacBook Pro M1 Pro 32GB, zephyr 7B alpha achieves approximately 30.4 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 6359ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, zephyr 7B alpha on MacBook Pro M1 Pro 32GB receives a C grade with 30.4 tok/s and 281K context.
On MacBook Pro M1 Pro 32GB, zephyr 7B alpha can safely use up to 281K 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-thebloke--zephyr-7b-alpha-gguf-on-m1-pro-32gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
3.9 GB |
| Medium |
| C45 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 4.3 GB | Medium | C45 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 5.0 GB | High | C46 |
Q6_K | 6 | 5.7 GB | High | C46 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 7.5 GB | Very High | C47 |
F16Best for your GPU | 16 | 14.3 GB | Maximum | C50 |
Not always. MacBook Pro M1 Pro 32GB 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.