// RUN โ€” FITS

Can the Apple M4 Max 48GB run CausalLM 14B?

Yes โ€” here's how fast and up to what context, with real measured numbers.

CausalLM 14B on the Apple M4 Max 48GB

QuantFits?Max contextSpeedBeyond context
FP16 yes 75k 12.6-15.2 t/s ~0.2-0.3 (slow)
Q8 yes 165k 25.3-30.5 t/s ~0.5-0.6 (slow)
Q4 yes 204k 45.1-54.4 t/s ~0.8-1 (slow)

Estimate (memory-bound). Beyond "max context" the KV cache spills to SSD swap and speed drops to the "beyond" figure.

FAQ

Can the Apple M4 Max 48GB run CausalLM 14B?โ–ถ

Yes. At Q4 it generates ~45.1-54.4 tok/s and fits up to 204k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~0.8-1 tok/s.

How much context fits?โ–ถ

At Q4, up to about 204k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.