Will It Run AI

Can Yi 1.5 34B run on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB?

YES — Tight Fit

B61Good
Estimated from fit model

Yi 1.5 34B needs ~30.5 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB has 34.6 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~17 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: TightBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced
Share:

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) — 30.5 GB, 31.4 tok/s, Tight fit
30.5 GB required34.6 GB available
88% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

31.4 tok/s

TTFT

6158 ms

Safe context

4K

Memory

30.5 GB / 34.6 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights20.7 GB
KV Cache3.7 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom5.2 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsYi 1.5 34B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB
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: 31.4 tok/s decode · 6.2s TTFT (warm) · 79 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
ChatBTight fit16.6 tok/s6367 ms4K
CodingBTight fit16.6 tok/s11673 ms4K
Agentic CodingBRuns with offload16.6 tok/s16979 ms4K
ReasoningBTight fit16.6 tok/s13795 ms4K
RAGBRuns with offload16.6 tok/s21224 ms4K

Quantization options

How Yi 1.5 34B (34B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB (34.6 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
13.3 GB
LowB60
Q3_K_S
3
16.7 GB
LowB61
NVFP4
4
19.0 GB
MediumB62
Q4_K_M
4
20.7 GB
MediumB62
Q5_K_M
5
24.5 GB
HighB61
Q6_KBest for your GPU
6
27.9 GB
HighB61
Q8_0
8
36.4 GB
Very HighF0
F16
16
69.7 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Yi 1.5 34B on your machine.

Run

lms load Yi-1.5-34B-Chat && lms server start

Opciones de mejora

Hardware que ejecuta bien Yi 1.5 34B

MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GBOpción económica
64 GB Unified (+16)
B
Añade margen de memoria para más contexto y para que el modelo envejezca mejor.19.8 tok/s decodificación

Añade margen de memoria para más contexto y para que el modelo envejezca mejor.

~$1,599 MSRP

MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GBMejor relación calidad-precio
64 GB Unified (+16)
B
Añade margen de memoria para más contexto y para que el modelo envejezca mejor.12.6 tok/s decodificación

Añade margen de memoria para más contexto y para que el modelo envejezca mejor.

~$2,499 MSRP

MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GBMejora Apple
64 GB Unified (+16)
B
Añade margen de memoria para más contexto y para que el modelo envejezca mejor.31.4 tok/s decodificación

Añade margen de memoria para más contexto y para que el modelo envejezca mejor.

~$3,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB run Yi 1.5 34B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB can run Yi 1.5 34B with a B grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 16.6 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Yi 1.5 34B need?

Yi 1.5 34B (34B parameters) requires approximately 30.5 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Yi 1.5 34B?

The recommended quantization for Yi 1.5 34B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Yi 1.5 34B run at on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB, Yi 1.5 34B achieves approximately 16.6 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 11673ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB run Yi 1.5 34B for coding?

For coding workloads, Yi 1.5 34B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB receives a B grade with 16.6 tok/s and 4K context.

What context window can Yi 1.5 34B use on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB, Yi 1.5 34B can safely use up to 4K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 4K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M4 Max 48GB as fast as VRAM for Yi 1.5 34B?

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 48GBSee all hardware for Yi 1.5 34B
Embed this result▼

Paste this snippet into any page to show a live fit card.

<iframe src="https://willitrunai.com/embed/yi-1.5-34b-on-m4-max-48gb" width="400" height="180" frameborder="0" style="border:none;border-radius:12px;overflow:hidden;" title="Will It Run AI — fit result"></iframe>

Preview: