Will It Run AI

Can Nemotron Nano 9B v2 run on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB?

YES — Runs Great

A77Great
Estimated — low-sample bucket· few comparable runs

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 needs ~14.0 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB has 34.6 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~38 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced
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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) 14.0 GB, 40.9 tok/s, Runs well
14.0 GB required34.6 GB available
40% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

40.9 tok/s

TTFT

4734 ms

Safe context

131K

Memory

14.0 GB / 34.6 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB
KV Cache2.4 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom5.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsNemotron Nano 9B v2 on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB
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: 40.9 tok/s decode · 4.7s TTFT (warm) · 102 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

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatARuns well38.3 tok/s2758 ms131K
CodingARuns well38.3 tok/s5056 ms131K
Agentic CodingARuns well38.3 tok/s7354 ms131K
ReasoningARuns well38.3 tok/s5976 ms131K
RAGARuns well38.3 tok/s9193 ms131K

Quantization options

How Nemotron Nano 9B v2 (9B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB (34.6 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
3.5 GB
LowA72
Q3_K_S
3
4.4 GB
LowA73
NVFP4
4
5.0 GB
MediumA73
Q4_K_M
4
5.5 GB
MediumA73
Q5_K_M
5
6.5 GB
HighA73
Q6_K
6
7.4 GB
HighA74
Q8_0
8
9.6 GB
Very HighA74
F16Best for your GPU
16
18.5 GB
MaximumA78

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Nemotron Nano 9B v2 on your machine.

Run

ollama run nemotron-nano:9b-v2

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB can run

ModelParamsGradeDecodeCapabilities
AlibabaQwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct30.5BS31.8 tok/s
AlibabaQwen 3.5 27B27BS22.7 tok/s
AlibabaQwen 3.6 27B27BS17.3 tok/s
AlibabaQwen 3.6 35B A3B35BS29.4 tok/s
AlibabaQwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct30BS32.9 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB run Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

Yes, MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB can run Nemotron Nano 9B v2 with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 38.3 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Nemotron Nano 9B v2 need?

Nemotron Nano 9B v2 (9B parameters) requires approximately 14.0 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

The recommended quantization for Nemotron Nano 9B v2 is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Nemotron Nano 9B v2 run at on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB, Nemotron Nano 9B v2 achieves approximately 38.3 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5056ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB run Nemotron Nano 9B v2 for coding?

For coding workloads, Nemotron Nano 9B v2 on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB receives a A grade with 38.3 tok/s and 131K context.

What context window can Nemotron Nano 9B v2 use on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB, Nemotron Nano 9B v2 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 Pro 48GB as fast as VRAM for Nemotron Nano 9B v2?

Not always. MacBook Pro M4 Pro 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 Pro 48GBSee all hardware for Nemotron Nano 9B v2
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