Qwen 3.6 35B A3B needs ~29.8 GB but MacBook Pro M3 24GB only has 17.3 GB. Try a smaller quantization or lighter model.
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
12.5 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization
Fit status
Too heavy
Decode
3.7 tok/s
TTFT
52516 ms
Safe context
4K
Memory
29.8 GB / 17.3 GB
Offload
40%
Usable shared or unified memory is the main blocker for this model.
Not enough usable memory
The model needs 29.8 GB, but this setup only exposes 17.3 GB of usable shared or unified memory.
Move to a larger memory pool
A larger unified-memory SKU or a discrete high-bandwidth GPU is the cleanest way to make this model practical.
| Workload | Grade | Fit | Decode | TTFT | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | F | Too heavy | 4.1 tok/s | 25946 ms | 4K |
| Coding | F | Too heavy | 3.7 tok/s | 52516 ms | 4K |
| Agentic Coding | F | Too heavy | 3.1 tok/s | 91360 ms | 4K |
| Reasoning | F | Too heavy | 3.7 tok/s | 62064 ms | 4K |
| RAG | F | Too heavy | 3.1 tok/s | 114200 ms | 4K |
How Qwen 3.6 35B A3B (35B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 24GB (17.3 GB usable).
| Quant | Bits | VRAM | Quality | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Q2_K | 2 | 13.7 GB | Low | F0 |
Q3_K_S | 3 | 17.2 GB | Low | F0 |
NVFP4 | 4 |
Upgrade options
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$1,099 MSRP
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$1,599 MSRP
Makes the model fit on the accelerator instead of staying completely out of reach.
Removes host-memory offload, which is usually the single biggest latency and throughput win.
~$2,499 MSRP
No, Qwen 3.6 35B A3B requires more memory than MacBook Pro M3 24GB provides.
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B (35B parameters) requires approximately 29.8 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.
The recommended quantization for Qwen 3.6 35B A3B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.
On MacBook Pro M3 24GB, Qwen 3.6 35B A3B achieves approximately 3.7 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 52516ms using Q4_K_M quantization.
For coding workloads, Qwen 3.6 35B A3B on MacBook Pro M3 24GB receives a F grade with 3.7 tok/s and 4K context.
On MacBook Pro M3 24GB, Qwen 3.6 35B A3B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 262K, 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/qwen-3.6-35b-a3b-on-m3-24gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>
Preview:
| Medium |
| F0 |
Q4_K_M | 4 | 21.3 GB | Medium | F0 |
Q5_K_M | 5 | 25.2 GB | High | F0 |
Q6_K | 6 | 28.7 GB | High | F0 |
Q8_0 | 8 | 37.5 GB | Very High | F0 |
F16 | 16 | 71.8 GB | Maximum | F0 |
Move to a larger memory pool. A larger unified-memory SKU or a discrete high-bandwidth GPU is the cleanest way to make this model practical.
Not always. MacBook Pro 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.
