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text model · Qwen2.5-Coder · macOS

Can I run Qwen2.5 Coder 7B on Apple M1 (8GB)?

Compatibility verdict VRAM threshold engine
No, not enough memorywould not load

No. Qwen2.5 Coder 7B needs ~5.8 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M1 (8GB) only has ~5.5 GB usable.

Needs ~5.8 GB Device usable ~5.5 GB

Needs ~5.8 GB even at Q4_K_M, but only ~5.5 GB is usable.

Q4_K_M needed
~5.8 GB
Usable on device
~5.5 GB
Device memory
8 GB
Model Qwen2.5-Coder
Parameters
7B
Q4_K_M size
4.36 GB
Q8_0 size
7.54 GB
Context
32k
Ollama tag
qwen2.5-coder:7b
Full Qwen2.5 Coder 7B requirements →
Device macOS
Memory
8 GB unified
Usable for weights
~5.5 GB
Best runtime
Ollama (llama.cpp Metal backend)
Best models for Apple M1 (8GB) →

What you can run instead

Run Qwen2.5 Coder 7B on other hardware

FAQ

Can Apple M1 (8GB) run Qwen2.5 Coder 7B?

No. Qwen2.5 Coder 7B needs ~5.8 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M1 (8GB) only has ~5.5 GB usable.

How much memory does Qwen2.5 Coder 7B need?

Apple M1 (8GB) does not have enough memory. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~4.36 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~5.8 GB at a 4k context.

What is the best tool to run Qwen2.5 Coder 7B 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.