Will It Run AI

Can Phi 3 Medium 14B run on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB?

YES — Runs Great

B56Good
Estimated from fit model

Phi 3 Medium 14B needs ~26.3 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB has 92.2 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~38 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: MediumStack: 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) 26.3 GB, 38.1 tok/s, Runs well
26.3 GB required92.2 GB available
29% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

38.1 tok/s

TTFT

5081 ms

Safe context

128K

Memory

26.3 GB / 92.2 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB
KV Cache3.1 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi 3 Medium 14B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB
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: 38.1 tok/s decode · 5.1s TTFT (warm) · 95 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
ChatBRuns well38.1 tok/s2771 ms128K
CodingBRuns well38.1 tok/s5081 ms128K
Agentic CodingBRuns well38.1 tok/s7390 ms128K
ReasoningBRuns well38.1 tok/s6005 ms128K
RAGBRuns well38.1 tok/s9238 ms128K

Quantization options

How Phi 3 Medium 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.5 GB
LowC50
Q3_K_S
3
6.9 GB
LowC50
NVFP4
4
7.8 GB
MediumC50
Q4_K_M
4
8.5 GB
MediumC50
Q5_K_M
5
10.1 GB
HighC51
Q6_K
6
11.5 GB
HighC51
Q8_0
8
15.0 GB
Very HighC51
F16Best for your GPU
16
28.7 GB
MaximumC53

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi 3 Medium 14B on your machine.

Run

ollama run phi3:medium

Opciones de mejora

Hardware que ejecuta bien Phi 3 Medium 14B

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB run Phi 3 Medium 14B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB can run Phi 3 Medium 14B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 38.1 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Phi 3 Medium 14B need?

Phi 3 Medium 14B (14B parameters) requires approximately 26.3 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Phi 3 Medium 14B?

The recommended quantization for Phi 3 Medium 14B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Phi 3 Medium 14B run at on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB, Phi 3 Medium 14B achieves approximately 38.1 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 5081ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB run Phi 3 Medium 14B for coding?

For coding workloads, Phi 3 Medium 14B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB receives a B grade with 38.1 tok/s and 128K context.

What context window can Phi 3 Medium 14B use on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB, Phi 3 Medium 14B 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 128GB as fast as VRAM for Phi 3 Medium 14B?

Not always. MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB 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 128GBSee all hardware for Phi 3 Medium 14B
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