Can GLM-4 9B run on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

B70Good

Estimated from fit model

GLM-4 9B needs ~12.2 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB has 34.6 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~63 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

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.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 12.2 GB, 74.7 tok/s, Runs well

12.2 GB required34.6 GB available

35% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

74.7 tok/s

TTFT

2592 ms

Safe context

128K

Memory

12.2 GB / 34.6 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB

KV Cache0.6 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom5.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGLM-4 9B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API.

When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed.

Key benefits of running locally:
  - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine
  - No per-token cost or rate limits
  - Works offline once the model is downloaded
  - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb:

  Model size     Q4 (4-bit)    Q8 (8-bit)    FP16
  7B params      ~4.3 GB       ~7.5 GB       ~14 GB
  13B params     ~7.9 GB       ~13.9 GB      ~26 GB
  70B params     ~42.7 GB      ~74.9 GB      ~140 GB

Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 74.7 tok/s decode · 2.6s TTFT (warm) · 187 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

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.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	B	Runs well	74.7 tok/s	1414 ms	128K
Coding	B	Runs well	62.7 tok/s	3090 ms	128K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	74.7 tok/s	3770 ms	128K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	74.7 tok/s	3063 ms	128K
RAG	A	Runs well	74.7 tok/s	4712 ms	128K

Quantization options

How GLM-4 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB (34.6 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.5 GB	Low	B64
Q3_K_S	3	4.4 GB	Low	B64
NVFP4	4	5.0 GB	Medium	B65
Q4_K_M	4	5.5 GB	Medium	B65
Q5_K_M	5	6.5 GB	High	B65
Q6_K	6	7.4 GB	High	B65
Q8_0	8	9.6 GB	Very High	B66
F16Best for your GPU	16	18.5 GB	Maximum	A70

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run GLM-4 9B on your machine.

Run

ollama run glm4

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB run GLM-4 9B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB can run GLM-4 9B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 62.7 tok/s.

How much VRAM does GLM-4 9B need?

GLM-4 9B (9B parameters) requires approximately 12.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for GLM-4 9B?

The recommended quantization for GLM-4 9B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will GLM-4 9B run at on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB, GLM-4 9B achieves approximately 62.7 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3090ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB run GLM-4 9B for coding?

For coding workloads, GLM-4 9B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB receives a B grade with 62.7 tok/s and 128K context.

What context window can GLM-4 9B use on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB, GLM-4 9B can safely use up to 128K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 128K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB as fast as VRAM for GLM-4 9B?

Not always. MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB 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.

See all results for MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB See all hardware for GLM-4 9B

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