Can EXAONE 4.0 32B run on Mac mini M2 24GB?

YES — With Q2_K

B69Good

○Estimated from fit model

EXAONE 4.0 32B needs ~19.9 GB VRAM. Mac mini M2 24GB has 17.3 GB. With Q2_K quantization, expect ~4 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: OffloadBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Host offload

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.

EXAONE 4.0 32B at Q4_K_M needs 26.9 GB — too much for Mac mini M2 24GB (17.3 GB). Runs at Q2_K (19.9 GB) with low quality.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 26.9 GB, exceeds 17.3 GB available

26.9 GB required17.3 GB available

155% VRAM needed

9.6 GB over capacity — needs offload or smaller quantization

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

2.0 tok/s

TTFT

96080 ms

Safe context

Memory

26.9 GB / 17.3 GB

Offload

40%

Memory breakdown

Weights19.5 GB

KV Cache3.9 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom2.6 GB

See how fast it feels

With memory offload — actual speed may be lower

See how fast it feelsEXAONE 4.0 32B on Mac mini M2 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: 2.0 tok/s decode · 96.1s TTFT (warm) · 5 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

It fits through host-memory offload, and offload is the main reason performance drops.

CPU or host-memory offload is active

About 10% of the working set spills out of accelerator memory, which usually hurts latency and sustained decode throughput.

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

Remove offload with more accelerator memory

Prioritize a GPU or unified-memory tier that fits the whole model natively. Removing offload usually helps more than small compute gains.

Buy headroom, not only minimum fit

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

Increase host RAM if you keep offloading

This setup may need roughly 1.6 GB of extra host RAM just for the offloaded portion, before OS and other tools.

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	F	Too heavy	2.2 tok/s	48108 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	96080 ms	4K
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	140800 ms	4K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	113549 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	176000 ms	4K

Quantization options

How EXAONE 4.0 32B (32B params) fits at each quantization level on Mac mini M2 24GB (17.3 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_KBest for your GPU	2	12.5 GB	Low	S85
Q3_K_S	3	15.7 GB	Low	F0
NVFP4	4	17.9 GB	Medium	F0
Q4_K_M	4	19.5 GB	Medium	F0
Q5_K_M	5	23.0 GB	High	F0
Q6_K	6	26.2 GB	High	F0
Q8_0	8	34.2 GB	Very High	F0
F16	16	65.6 GB	Maximum	F0