Can Nous Hermes 1.0 run on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB?

YES — Tight Fit

A73Great

Estimated from fit model

Nous Hermes 1.0 needs ~22.5 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB has 25.9 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~51 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: TightBandwidth: LowStack: 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) — 22.5 GB, 51.3 tok/s, Tight fit

22.5 GB required25.9 GB available

87% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

51.3 tok/s

TTFT

3775 ms

Safe context

16K

Memory

22.5 GB / 25.9 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB

KV Cache12.2 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom3.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsNous Hermes 1.0 on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step.

Given information:
  - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour)
  - Time  = 2.5 hours

Formula: Distance = Speed x Time

Calculation:
  Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h
           = 150 miles

The train travels 150 miles.

Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time.

Breakdown:
  - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles
  - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance)
  - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles

Total distance: 150 miles (same)
Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours
Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph

The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 51.3 tok/s decode · 3.8s TTFT (warm) · 128 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	51.3 tok/s	2059 ms	16K
Coding	A	Tight fit	51.3 tok/s	3775 ms	16K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	34.2 tok/s	8231 ms	16K
Reasoning	A	Tight fit	51.3 tok/s	4461 ms	16K
RAG	F	Too heavy	34.2 tok/s	10289 ms	16K

Quantization options

How Nous Hermes 1.0 (9B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB (25.9 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.5 GB	Low	B65
Q3_K_S	3	4.4 GB	Low	B65
NVFP4	4	5.0 GB	Medium	B66
Q4_K_M	4	5.5 GB	Medium	B66
Q5_K_M	5	6.5 GB	High	B66
Q6_K	6	7.4 GB	High	B67
Q8_0	8	9.6 GB	Very High	B68
F16Best for your GPU	16	18.5 GB	Maximum	A70

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Nous Hermes 1.0 on your machine.

Run

lms load Nous-Hermes-1.0 && lms server start

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	S	39.1 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 27B	27B	S	28.8 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 27B	27B	S	21.9 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B	35B	A	28.5 tok/s
Qwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct	30B	S	40.4 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB run Nous Hermes 1.0?

Yes, MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB can run Nous Hermes 1.0 with a A grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 51.3 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Nous Hermes 1.0 need?

Nous Hermes 1.0 (9B parameters) requires approximately 22.5 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Nous Hermes 1.0?

The recommended quantization for Nous Hermes 1.0 is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Nous Hermes 1.0 run at on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB, Nous Hermes 1.0 achieves approximately 51.3 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 3775ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB run Nous Hermes 1.0 for coding?

For coding workloads, Nous Hermes 1.0 on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB receives a A grade with 51.3 tok/s and 16K context.

What context window can Nous Hermes 1.0 use on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB, Nous Hermes 1.0 can safely use up to 16K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 16K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB as fast as VRAM for Nous Hermes 1.0?

Not always. MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB 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 36GB See all hardware for Nous Hermes 1.0

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