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⇱ Solar 7B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB? YES

Can Solar 7B run on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB?

YES — Runs Great

A72Great
○Estimated from fit model

Solar 7B needs ~12.0 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB has 25.9 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~71 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced
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) — 12.0 GB, 70.9 tok/s, Runs well
12.0 GB required25.9 GB available
46% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

70.9 tok/s

TTFT

2731 ms

Safe context

8K

Memory

12.0 GB / 25.9 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights4.3 GB
KV Cache2.9 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom3.9 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsSolar 7B on MacBook Pro M4 Max 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: 70.9 tok/s decode · 2.7s TTFT (warm) · 177 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 well70.9 tok/s1490 ms8K
CodingARuns well70.9 tok/s2731 ms8K
Agentic CodingARuns well70.9 tok/s3973 ms8K
ReasoningARuns well70.9 tok/s3228 ms8K
RAGARuns well70.9 tok/s4966 ms8K

Quantization options

How Solar 7B (7B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB (25.9 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
2.7 GB
LowB65
Q3_K_S
3
3.4 GB
LowB65
NVFP4
4
3.9 GB
MediumB65
Q4_K_M
4
4.3 GB
MediumB65
Q5_K_M
5
5.0 GB
HighB66
Q6_K
6
5.7 GB
HighB66
Q8_0
8
7.5 GB
Very HighB67
F16Best for your GPU
16
14.3 GB
MaximumA71

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Solar 7B on your machine.

Run

lms load Solar-7B && lms server start

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GB can run

ModelParamsGradeDecodeCapabilities
👁 Alibaba
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct		30.5BS39.1 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.5 27B		27BS28.8 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.6 27B		27BS21.9 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen 3.6 35B A3B		35BA28.5 tok/s
👁 Alibaba
Qwen3-VL 30B A3B Instruct		30BS40.4 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

See all results for MacBook Pro M4 Max 36GBSee all hardware for Solar 7B