text model · Qwen2.5 · macOS
Can I run Qwen2.5 72B on Apple M4 Max (64GB)?
No. Qwen2.5 72B needs ~50.2 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M4 Max (64GB) only has ~48 GB usable.
Needs ~50.2 GB even at Q4_K_M, but only ~48 GB is usable.
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~50.2 GB
- Usable on device
- ~48 GB
- Device memory
- 64 GB
- Parameters
- 72B
- Q4_K_M size
- 47.42 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 77.26 GB
- Context
- 128k
- Ollama tag
- qwen2.5:72b
- Memory
- 64 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~48 GB
- Best runtime
- MLX direct / Ollama (MLX backend)
What you can run instead
Run Qwen2.5 72B on other hardware
FAQ
Can Apple M4 Max (64GB) run Qwen2.5 72B?
No. Qwen2.5 72B needs ~50.2 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M4 Max (64GB) only has ~48 GB usable.
How much memory does Qwen2.5 72B need?
Apple M4 Max (64GB) does not have enough memory. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~47.42 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~50.2 GB at a 4k context.
What is the best tool to run Qwen2.5 72B on macOS?
LM Studio for a simple setup; mlx-lm for the most speed. vLLM is NOT a Mac tool, it is a CUDA/Linux serving engine. Unified memory is not a fixed VRAM slice; ~70% is usable for weights.
Sources
Memory figures are estimates. See methodology.