Can Pixtral Large 124B run on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB?

YES — With Offload

S86Excellent

Estimated from fit model

Pixtral Large 124B needs ~95.7 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB has 92.2 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~8 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: MediumStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

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) — 95.7 GB, 8.0 tok/s, Runs with offload (needs ~2.8 GB host RAM)

95.7 GB required92.2 GB available

104% VRAM needed

3.5 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Runs with offload (needs ~2.8 GB host RAM)

Decode

8.0 tok/s

TTFT

24162 ms

Safe context

Memory

95.7 GB / 92.2 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights75.6 GB

KV Cache5.4 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPixtral Large 124B 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: 8.0 tok/s decode · 24.2s TTFT (warm) · 20 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Very little memory headroom

You can run the model, but there is not much room left for longer context, bigger batches, extra apps, or future model updates.

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

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	S	Runs with offload (needs ~0.7 GB host RAM)	8.4 tok/s	12533 ms	5K
Coding	S	Runs with offload (needs ~2.8 GB host RAM)	8.0 tok/s	24162 ms	5K
Agentic Coding	A	Very compromised (needs ~6.7 GB host RAM)	7.4 tok/s	38085 ms	5K
Reasoning	S	Runs with offload (needs ~2.8 GB host RAM)	8.0 tok/s	28555 ms	5K
RAG	A	Very compromised (needs ~6.7 GB host RAM)	7.4 tok/s	47607 ms	5K

Inference speed

Pixtral Large 124B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Pixtral Large 124B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, including multi-GPU rigs, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB at ~8 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.

GPU / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	8.0	Offloads
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q4_K_M	8.0	Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	6.2	Offloads
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	5.9	Offloads
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	3.9	Too big
2× RX 7900 XTX 24GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	3.6	Too big
2× RTX 4090 24GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	2.6	Too big
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	2.4	Too big
2× RTX 3090 24GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	2.2	Too big
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big
4× RTX 3060 12GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	2.0	Too big

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q4_K_M; real tokens/sec varies with prompt length, context, batch size, and runtime build. Prompt processing (prefill) is faster than the decode figures shown here.

Quantization options

How Pixtral Large 124B (124B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	48.4 GB	Low	S87
Q3_K_S	3	60.8 GB	Low	S87
NVFP4Best for your GPU	4	69.4 GB	Medium	S87
Q4_K_M	4	75.6 GB	Medium	F0
Q5_K_M	5	89.3 GB	High	F0
Q6_K	6	101.7 GB	High	F0
Q8_0	8	132.7 GB	Very High	F0
F16	16	254.2 GB	Maximum	F0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Pixtral Large 124B on your machine.

Run

lms load Pixtral-Large-Instruct-2411 && lms server start

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB run Pixtral Large 124B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB can run Pixtral Large 124B with a S grade (Runs with offload (needs ~2.8 GB host RAM)). Expected decode speed: 8.0 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Pixtral Large 124B need?

Pixtral Large 124B (124B parameters) requires approximately 95.7 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Pixtral Large 124B?

The recommended quantization for Pixtral Large 124B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Pixtral Large 124B run at on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB, Pixtral Large 124B achieves approximately 8.0 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 24162ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB run Pixtral Large 124B for coding?

For coding workloads, Pixtral Large 124B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB receives a S grade with 8.0 tok/s and 5K context.

What context window can Pixtral Large 124B use on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB, Pixtral Large 124B can safely use up to 5K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 131K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

What should I upgrade first if Pixtral Large 124B feels slow on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB?

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit. A slightly larger memory tier gives you safer context growth and makes the recommendation more future-proof.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB as fast as VRAM for Pixtral Large 124B?

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 128GB See all hardware for Pixtral Large 124B

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