Can GLM-4 9B run on MacBook Air M3 24GB?

YES — Runs Great

B69Good

Estimated from fit model

GLM-4 9B needs ~9.6 GB VRAM. MacBook Air M3 24GB has 17.3 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~14 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory bandwidth

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) — 9.6 GB, 13.5 tok/s, Runs well

9.6 GB required17.3 GB available

55% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

13.5 tok/s

TTFT

14291 ms

Safe context

128K

Memory

9.6 GB / 17.3 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB

KV Cache0.6 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom2.6 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGLM-4 9B on MacBook Air M3 24GB
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: 13.5 tok/s decode · 14.3s TTFT (warm) · 34 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	B	Runs well	13.5 tok/s	7795 ms	128K
Coding	B	Runs well	13.5 tok/s	14291 ms	128K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	13.5 tok/s	20786 ms	128K
Reasoning	B	Runs well	13.5 tok/s	16889 ms	128K
RAG	B	Runs well	13.5 tok/s	25983 ms	128K

Quantization options

How GLM-4 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Air M3 24GB (17.3 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	3.5 GB	Low	B68
Q3_K_S	3	4.4 GB	Low	B69
NVFP4	4	5.0 GB	Medium	B69
Q4_K_M	4	5.5 GB	Medium	B70
Q5_K_M	5	6.5 GB	High	A71
Q6_K	6	7.4 GB	High	A72
Q8_0Best for your GPU	8	9.6 GB	Very High	A73
F16	16	18.5 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run GLM-4 9B on your machine.

Run

ollama run glm4

Opções de upgrade

Hardware que roda bem GLM-4 9B

MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GBOpção econômica

32 GB Unified (+8)400 GB/s (+300)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 242%.46.2 tok/s decodificação

Raises estimated decode speed by about 242%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,999 MSRP

MacBook Pro M2 Pro 32GBMelhor custo-benefício

32 GB Unified (+8)200 GB/s (+100)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 107%.27.9 tok/s decodificação

Raises estimated decode speed by about 107%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,999 MSRP

MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GBUpgrade Apple

36 GB Unified (+12)410 GB/s (+310)

Raises estimated decode speed by about 316%.56.1 tok/s decodificação

Raises estimated decode speed by about 316%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$2,499 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Air M3 24GB run GLM-4 9B?

Yes, MacBook Air M3 24GB can run GLM-4 9B with a B grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 13.5 tok/s.

How much VRAM does GLM-4 9B need?

GLM-4 9B (9B parameters) requires approximately 9.6 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for GLM-4 9B?

The recommended quantization for GLM-4 9B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will GLM-4 9B run at on MacBook Air M3 24GB?

On MacBook Air M3 24GB, GLM-4 9B achieves approximately 13.5 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 14291ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Air M3 24GB run GLM-4 9B for coding?

For coding workloads, GLM-4 9B on MacBook Air M3 24GB receives a B grade with 13.5 tok/s and 128K context.

What context window can GLM-4 9B use on MacBook Air M3 24GB?

On MacBook Air M3 24GB, GLM-4 9B 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 Air M3 24GB as fast as VRAM for GLM-4 9B?

Not always. MacBook Air M3 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 M3 24GB See all hardware for GLM-4 9B

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