MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GBBudget pick
36 GB Unified (+4)150 GB/s (+30)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 38%.44.9 tok/s decode
Raises estimated decode speed by about 38%.
~$1,999 MSRP
Phi 3.5 Mini 4B needs ~12.7 GB VRAM. Mac mini M4 32GB has 23.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~33 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
32.6 tok/s
TTFT
5943 ms
Safe context
44K
Memory
12.7 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 | B | Runs well | 32.6 tok/s | 3242 ms | 44K |
| Coding | B | Runs well | 32.6 tok/s | 5943 ms | 44K |
| Agentic Coding | B | Runs well | 32.6 tok/s | 8644 ms | 44K |
| Reasoning | B | Runs well | 32.6 tok/s | 7023 ms | 44K |
| RAG | B | Runs well | 32.6 tok/s | 10805 ms | 44K |
How Phi 3.5 Mini 4B (4B params) fits at each quantization level on Mac mini M4 32GB (23.0 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 1.6 GB | Low | B60 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 2.0 GB | Low | B60 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Copy-paste commands to run Phi 3.5 Mini 4B on your machine.
Run
ollama run phi3.5Upgrade options
Raises estimated decode speed by about 38%.
~$1,999 MSRP
Raises estimated decode speed by about 72%.
~$2,499 MSRP
Yes, Mac mini M4 32GB can run Phi 3.5 Mini 4B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 32.6 tok/s.
Phi 3.5 Mini 4B (4B parameters) requires approximately 12.7 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Phi 3.5 Mini 4B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On Mac mini M4 32GB, Phi 3.5 Mini 4B achieves approximately 32.6 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5943ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Phi 3.5 Mini 4B on Mac mini M4 32GB receives a B grade with 32.6 tok/s and 44K context.
On Mac mini M4 32GB, Phi 3.5 Mini 4B can safely use up to 44K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, 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/phi-3.5-mini-4b-on-m4-mini-32gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
2.2 GB |
| Medium |
| B60 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 2.4 GB | Medium | B60 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 2.9 GB | High | B60 |
Q6_K | 6 | 3.3 GB | High | B60 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 4.3 GB | Very High | B61 |
F16Best for your GPU | 16 | 8.2 GB | Maximum | B63 |
Not always. Mac mini 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.