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URL: https://willitrunai.com/can-run/phi-4-14b-on-m4-pro-64gb

⇱ Phi-4 14B on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GB? YES

Can Phi-4 14B run on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GB?

YES — Runs Great

A78Great
▲Estimated — low-sample bucket· few comparable runs

Phi-4 14B needs ~19.4 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GB has 46.1 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~23 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced
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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) — 19.4 GB, 23.3 tok/s, Runs well
19.4 GB required46.1 GB available
42% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

23.3 tok/s

TTFT

8314 ms

Safe context

16K

Memory

19.4 GB / 46.1 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB
KV Cache3.1 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom6.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi-4 14B on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GB
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: 23.3 tok/s decode · 8.3s TTFT (warm) · 58 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 well23.3 tok/s4535 ms16K
CodingARuns well23.3 tok/s8314 ms16K
Agentic CodingARuns well23.3 tok/s12093 ms16K
ReasoningARuns well23.3 tok/s9826 ms16K
RAGARuns well23.3 tok/s15117 ms16K

Quantization options

How Phi-4 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GB (46.1 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
5.5 GB
LowA74
Q3_K_S
3
6.9 GB
LowA74
NVFP4
4
7.8 GB
MediumA74
Q4_K_M
4
8.5 GB
MediumA74
Q5_K_M
5
10.1 GB
HighA75
Q6_K
6
11.5 GB
HighA75
Q8_0
8
15.0 GB
Very HighA76
F16Best for your GPU
16
28.7 GB
MaximumA80

Get started

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

Run

ollama run phi4

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GB can run

ModelParamsGradeDecodeCapabilities
👁 Alibaba
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct		30.5BS31.8 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.5 27B		27BS22.7 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.6 27B		27BS17.3 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B		35BS29.4 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct		30BS32.9 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

See all results for MacBook Pro M4 Pro 64GBSee all hardware for Phi-4 14B