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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/phi-4-14b-on-m3-pro-36gb

⇱ Phi-4 14B on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB? YES

Can Phi-4 14B run on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB?

YES — Runs Great

A81Great
○Estimated from fit model

Phi-4 14B needs ~16.4 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB has 25.9 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~14 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory bandwidth
Share:

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) — 16.4 GB, 13.8 tok/s, Runs well
16.4 GB required25.9 GB available
63% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

13.8 tok/s

TTFT

14046 ms

Safe context

16K

Memory

16.4 GB / 25.9 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB
KV Cache3.1 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom3.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi-4 14B on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB
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: 13.8 tok/s decode · 14.0s TTFT (warm) · 35 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

WorkloadGradeFitDecodeTTFTContext
ChatARuns well13.8 tok/s7661 ms16K
CodingARuns well13.8 tok/s14046 ms16K
Agentic CodingARuns well13.8 tok/s20430 ms16K
ReasoningARuns well13.8 tok/s16599 ms16K
RAGARuns well13.8 tok/s25537 ms16K

Quantization options

How Phi-4 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB (25.9 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.5 GB
LowA77
Q3_K_S
3
6.9 GB
LowA78
NVFP4
4
7.8 GB
MediumA78
Q4_K_M
4
8.5 GB
MediumA79
Q5_K_M
5
10.1 GB
HighA79
Q6_K
6
11.5 GB
HighA80
Q8_0Best for your GPU
8
15.0 GB
Very HighA82
F16
16
28.7 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi-4 14B on your machine.

Run

ollama run phi4

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GB can run

ModelParamsGradeDecodeCapabilities
👁 Alibaba
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct		30.5BS16.6 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.5 27B		27BS7.2 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.6 27B		27BS5.5 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B		35BA12.1 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct		30BS17.1 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

See all results for MacBook Pro M3 Pro 36GBSee all hardware for Phi-4 14B