Can StarCoder2 15B run on MacBook Air M4 24GB?

YES — Tight Fit

C46Usable
Estimated — low-sample bucket· few comparable runs

StarCoder2 15B needs ~14.4 GB VRAM. MacBook Air M4 24GB has 17.3 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~9 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: TightBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory bandwidth
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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) 14.4 GB, 8.7 tok/s, Tight fit
14.4 GB required17.3 GB available
83% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

8.7 tok/s

TTFT

22189 ms

Safe context

42K

Memory

14.4 GB / 17.3 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights9.2 GB
KV Cache1.8 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom2.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsStarCoder2 15B on MacBook Air M4 24GB
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: 8.7 tok/s decode · 22.2s TTFT (warm) · 22 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 well8.7 tok/s12103 ms42K
CodingCTight fit8.7 tok/s22189 ms42K
Agentic CodingCTight fit8.7 tok/s32275 ms42K
ReasoningCTight fit8.7 tok/s26224 ms42K
RAGCTight fit8.7 tok/s40344 ms42K

Quantization options

How StarCoder2 15B (15B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Air M4 24GB (17.3 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.9 GB
LowC49
Q3_K_S
3
7.4 GB
LowC50
NVFP4
4
8.4 GB
MediumC51
Q4_K_M
4
9.2 GB
MediumC51
Q5_K_M
5
10.8 GB
HighC51
Q6_KBest for your GPU
6
12.3 GB
HighC50
Q8_0
8
16.1 GB
Very HighF0
F16
16
30.7 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run StarCoder2 15B on your machine.

Run

lms load hf-second-state--starcoder2-15b-gguf && lms server start

アップグレードオプション

StarCoder2 15Bを快適に動かすハードウェア

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Air M4 24GB run StarCoder2 15B?

Yes, MacBook Air M4 24GB can run StarCoder2 15B with a C grade (Tight fit). Expected decode speed: 8.7 tok/s.

How much VRAM does StarCoder2 15B need?

StarCoder2 15B (15B parameters) requires approximately 14.4 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for StarCoder2 15B?

The recommended quantization for StarCoder2 15B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will StarCoder2 15B run at on MacBook Air M4 24GB?

On MacBook Air M4 24GB, StarCoder2 15B achieves approximately 8.7 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 22189ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Air M4 24GB run StarCoder2 15B for coding?

For coding workloads, StarCoder2 15B on MacBook Air M4 24GB receives a C grade with 8.7 tok/s and 42K context.

What context window can StarCoder2 15B use on MacBook Air M4 24GB?

On MacBook Air M4 24GB, StarCoder2 15B can safely use up to 42K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is —, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Air M4 24GB as fast as VRAM for StarCoder2 15B?

Not always. MacBook Air M4 24GB 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 Air M4 24GBSee all hardware for StarCoder2 15B
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