Can Granite 4.1 8B run on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB?

YES — Runs Great

A73Great

Estimated from fit model

Granite 4.1 8B needs ~15.1 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB has 46.1 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~83 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) — 15.1 GB, 82.6 tok/s, Runs well

15.1 GB required46.1 GB available

33% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

82.6 tok/s

TTFT

2344 ms

Safe context

131K

Memory

15.1 GB / 46.1 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB

KV Cache2.4 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom6.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGranite 4.1 8B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Write a Python function to sort a list
Here's a Python function that sorts a list using quicksort:

def quicksort(arr):
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

# Example usage
numbers = [3, 6, 8, 10, 1, 2, 1]
print(quicksort(numbers))  # [1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10]

The algorithm picks a pivot, partitions the list into smaller, equal, and larger elements, then recursively sorts each partition and concatenates the results.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>Now add type hints and a docstring
def quicksort(arr: list[int]) -> list[int]:
    """Sort a list using the quicksort algorithm.

    Args:
        arr: List of integers to sort.

    Returns:
        A new sorted list.
    """
    if len(arr) <= 1:
        return arr
    pivot = arr[len(arr) // 2]
    left   = [x for x in arr if x < pivot]
    middle = [x for x in arr if x == pivot]
    right  = [x for x in arr if x > pivot]
    return quicksort(left) + middle + quicksort(right)

Added type hints for the input and return type, plus a Google-style docstring.
Estimated: 82.6 tok/s decode · 2.3s TTFT (warm) · 207 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	A	Runs well	82.6 tok/s	1279 ms	131K
Coding	A	Runs well	82.6 tok/s	2344 ms	131K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	82.6 tok/s	3409 ms	131K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	82.6 tok/s	2770 ms	131K
RAG	A	Runs well	82.6 tok/s	4262 ms	131K

Inference speed

Granite 4.1 8B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Granite 4.1 8B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~112 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.

GPU / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q4_K_M	112.0	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	112.0	Fits
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q4_K_M	112.0	Fits
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	112.0	Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	112.0	Fits
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q4_K_M	112.0	Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	102.2	Fits
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	96.9	Fits
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	83.3	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	82.6	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	82.6	Fits
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	52.9	Fits
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	52.3	Fits
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	48.5	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	42.6	Fits
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q4_K_M	23.8	Heavy offload

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q4_K_M; real tokens/sec varies with prompt length, context, batch size, and runtime build. Prompt processing (prefill) is faster than the decode figures shown here.

Quantization options

How Granite 4.1 8B (8B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB (46.1 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.1 GB	Low	B66
Q3_K_S	3	3.9 GB	Low	B66
NVFP4	4	4.5 GB	Medium	B66
Q4_K_M	4	4.9 GB	Medium	B66
Q5_K_M	5	5.8 GB	High	B66
Q6_K	6	6.6 GB	High	B66
Q8_0	8	8.6 GB	Very High	B67
F16Best for your GPU	16	16.4 GB	Maximum	B69

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Granite 4.1 8B on your machine.

Run

ollama run granite4.1:8b

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	S	52 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 27B	27B	S	36.1 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 27B	27B	S	27.4 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B	35B	S	43.7 tok/s
Qwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct	30B	S	53.8 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB run Granite 4.1 8B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB can run Granite 4.1 8B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 82.6 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Granite 4.1 8B need?

Granite 4.1 8B (8B parameters) requires approximately 15.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Granite 4.1 8B?

The recommended quantization for Granite 4.1 8B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Granite 4.1 8B run at on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB, Granite 4.1 8B achieves approximately 82.6 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 2344ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB run Granite 4.1 8B for coding?

For coding workloads, Granite 4.1 8B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB receives a A grade with 82.6 tok/s and 131K context.

What context window can Granite 4.1 8B use on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB, Granite 4.1 8B can safely use up to 131K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB as fast as VRAM for Granite 4.1 8B?

Not always. MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB 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 64GB See all hardware for Granite 4.1 8B

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