Can Gemma 4 E2B run on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB?

YES — Runs Great

B69Good

○Estimated from fit model

Gemma 4 E2B needs ~8.7 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB has 25.9 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~38 tok/s.

Runtime: OllamaCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: Very lowStack: BasicBottleneck: 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) — 8.7 GB, 38.3 tok/s, Runs well

8.7 GB required25.9 GB available

34% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

38.3 tok/s

TTFT

5058 ms

Safe context

128K

Memory

8.7 GB / 25.9 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights3.1 GB

KV Cache0.5 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom3.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsGemma 4 E2B on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB
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: 38.3 tok/s decode · 5.1s TTFT (warm) · 96 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	38.3 tok/s	2759 ms	128K
Coding	B	Runs well	38.3 tok/s	5058 ms	128K
Agentic Coding	B	Runs well	38.3 tok/s	7357 ms	128K
Reasoning	B	Runs well	38.3 tok/s	5977 ms	128K
RAG	B	Runs well	38.3 tok/s	9196 ms	128K

Quantization options

How Gemma 4 E2B (5.099999904632568B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB (25.9 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	2.0 GB	Low	B67
Q3_K_S	3	2.5 GB	Low	B67
NVFP4	4	2.9 GB	Medium	B67
Q4_K_M	4	3.1 GB	Medium	B67
Q5_K_M	5	3.7 GB	High	B67
Q6_K	6	4.2 GB	High	B67
Q8_0	8	5.5 GB	Very High	B68
F16Best for your GPU	16	10.5 GB	Maximum	A71