Nous Hermes 1.0 needs ~22.1 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 32GB has 23.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~15 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 with offload
Decode
14.5 tok/s
TTFT
13371 ms
Safe context
16K
Memory
22.1 GB / 23.0 GB
This setup is broadly balanced for this model.
Very little memory headroom
You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.
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.
Buy headroom, not only minimum fit
A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | A | Runs well | 14.5 tok/s | 7293 ms | 16K |
| Coding | B | Runs with offload | 14.5 tok/s | 13371 ms | 16K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 8.6 tok/s | 32932 ms | 16K |
| Reasoning | B | Runs with offload | 14.5 tok/s | 15803 ms | 16K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 8.6 tok/s | 41165 ms | 16K |
How Nous Hermes 1.0 (9B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 32GB (23.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 3.5 GB | Low | B66 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 4.4 GB | Low | B66 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run Nous Hermes 1.0 on your machine.
Run
lms load Nous-Hermes-1.0 && lms server startUpgrade options
Raises estimated decode speed by about 143%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$1,599 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 37%.
~$1,999 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 371%.
Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.
~$2,499 MSRP
Yes, MacBook Pro M4 32GB can run Nous Hermes 1.0 with a B grade (Runs with offload). Expected decode speed: 14.5 tok/s.
Nous Hermes 1.0 (9B parameters) requires approximately 22.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Nous Hermes 1.0 is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On MacBook Pro M4 32GB, Nous Hermes 1.0 achieves approximately 14.5 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 13371ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Nous Hermes 1.0 on MacBook Pro M4 32GB receives a B grade with 14.5 tok/s and 16K context.
On MacBook Pro M4 32GB, Nous Hermes 1.0 can safely use up to 16K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 16K, 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/nous-hermes-1.0-on-m4-32gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
5.0 GB |
| Medium |
| B66 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 5.5 GB | Medium | B67 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 6.5 GB | High | B67 |
Q6_K | 6 | 7.4 GB | High | B68 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 9.6 GB | Very High | B69 |
F16Best for your GPU | 16 | 18.5 GB | Maximum | A70 |
Buy headroom, not only minimum fit. A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.
Not always. MacBook Pro M4 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.