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⇱ Yi Coder 9B on MacBook Pro M2 Pro 16GB? TIGHT FIT


Can Yi Coder 9B run on MacBook Pro M2 Pro 16GB?

YES — Tight Fit

B62Good
Estimated from fit model

Yi Coder 9B needs ~9.6 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M2 Pro 16GB has 11.5 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~28 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: TightBandwidth: Very lowStack: StandardBottleneck: Memory bandwidth
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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) — 9.6 GB, 27.7 tok/s, Tight fit
9.6 GB required11.5 GB available
83% VRAM used

Fit status

Tight fit

Decode

27.7 tok/s

TTFT

6981 ms

Safe context

37K

Memory

9.6 GB / 11.5 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights5.5 GB
KV Cache1.5 GB
Runtime0.9 GB
Headroom1.7 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsYi Coder 9B on MacBook Pro M2 Pro 16GB
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: 27.7 tok/s decode · 7.0s TTFT (warm) · 69 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
ChatBRuns well27.7 tok/s3808 ms37K
CodingBTight fit27.7 tok/s6981 ms37K
Agentic CodingBRuns with offload27.7 tok/s10154 ms37K
ReasoningBTight fit27.7 tok/s8250 ms37K
RAGBRuns with offload27.7 tok/s12693 ms37K

Quantization options

How Yi Coder 9B (9B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M2 Pro 16GB (11.5 GB usable).

QuantBitsVRAMQualityFit
Q2_K
2
3.5 GB
LowB63
Q3_K_S
3
4.4 GB
LowB64
NVFP4
4
5.0 GB
MediumB65
Q4_K_M
4
5.5 GB
MediumB65
Q5_K_M
5
6.5 GB
HighB64
Q6_KBest for your GPU
6
7.4 GB
HighB64
Q8_0
8
9.6 GB
Very HighF0
F16
16
18.5 GB
MaximumF0

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Yi Coder 9B on your machine.

Run

lms load Yi-Coder-9B-Chat && lms server start

Upgrade options

Hardware that runs Yi Coder 9B well

MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18GBBudget pick
18 GB Unified (+2)
B
This setup is broadly balanced for this model.21.7 tok/s decode

~$1,999 MSRP

MacBook Pro M4 Pro 24GBBest value
24 GB Unified (+8)273 GB/s (+73)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 38%.38.3 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 38%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,999 MSRP

MacBook Pro M2 Max 32GBApple upgrade
32 GB Unified (+16)400 GB/s (+200)
B
Raises estimated decode speed by about 66%.46 tok/s decode

Raises estimated decode speed by about 66%.

Adds memory headroom for longer context windows and future model growth.

~$1,999 MSRP

Frequently asked questions

See all results for MacBook Pro M2 Pro 16GBSee all hardware for Yi Coder 9B