Can aya expanse 8b run on MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB?

YES — Runs Great

C49Usable
Estimated from fit model

aya expanse 8b needs ~10.2 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB has 23.0 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~48 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) 10.2 GB, 47.5 tok/s, Runs well
10.2 GB required23.0 GB available
44% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

47.5 tok/s

TTFT

4072 ms

Safe context

236K

Memory

10.2 GB / 23.0 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.9 GB
KV Cache0.9 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom3.5 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsaya expanse 8b on MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>What is local AI inference?
Local AI inference means running an AI language model directly on your own hardware — your laptop, desktop, or server — instead of sending requests to a remote cloud API. When you run inference locally the model weights are loaded into your GPU or unified memory. Each token you generate requires reading those weights from memory, so memory bandwidth is the main bottleneck for decode speed. Key benefits of running locally: - Full privacy: your prompts never leave your machine - No per-token cost or rate limits - Works offline once the model is downloaded - Latency depends only on your hardware
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>How much VRAM do I need?
It depends on the model size and quantization level. A rough rule of thumb: Model size Q4 (4-bit) Q8 (8-bit) FP16 7B params ~4.3 GB ~7.5 GB ~14 GB 13B params ~7.9 GB ~13.9 GB ~26 GB 70B params ~42.7 GB ~74.9 GB ~140 GB Most people use 4-bit quantization (Q4_K_M) which gives 90-95% of full quality at a fraction of the memory. A 24 GB GPU can comfortably run most 7B-13B models.
Estimated: 47.5 tok/s decode · 4.1s TTFT (warm) · 119 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
ChatCRuns well47.5 tok/s2221 ms236K
CodingCRuns well47.5 tok/s4072 ms236K
Agentic CodingCRuns well47.5 tok/s5923 ms236K
ReasoningCRuns well47.5 tok/s4813 ms236K
RAGCRuns well47.5 tok/s7404 ms236K

Quantization options

How aya expanse 8b (8B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB (23.0 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
3.1 GB
LowC45
Q3_K_S
3
3.9 GB
LowC45
NVFP4
4
4.5 GB
MediumC45
Q4_K_M
4
4.9 GB
MediumC45
Q5_K_M
5
5.8 GB
HighC46
Q6_K
6
6.6 GB
HighC47
Q8_0
8
8.6 GB
Very HighC48
F16Best for your GPU
16
16.4 GB
MaximumC50

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run aya expanse 8b on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-bartowski--aya-expanse-8b-gguf && lms server start

アップグレードオプション

aya expanse 8bを快適に動かすハードウェア

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB run aya expanse 8b?

Yes, MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB can run aya expanse 8b with a C grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 47.5 tok/s.

How much VRAM does aya expanse 8b need?

aya expanse 8b (8B parameters) requires approximately 10.2 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for aya expanse 8b?

The recommended quantization for aya expanse 8b is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will aya expanse 8b run at on MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB?

On MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB, aya expanse 8b achieves approximately 47.5 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 4072ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB run aya expanse 8b for coding?

For coding workloads, aya expanse 8b on MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB receives a C grade with 47.5 tok/s and 236K context.

What context window can aya expanse 8b use on MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB?

On MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB, aya expanse 8b can safely use up to 236K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB as fast as VRAM for aya expanse 8b?

Not always. MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GB 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 M2 Max 32GBSee all hardware for aya expanse 8b
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