// RUN โ€” FITS

Can the Apple M4 Max 48GB run NLLB?

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

NLLB on the Apple M4 Max 48GB

QuantFits?Max contextSpeedBeyond context
FP16 no โ€” โ€” โ€”
Q8 no โ€” โ€” โ€”
Q4 yes 34k 12.2-14.7 t/s ~0.2-0.3 (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 NLLB?โ–ถ

Yes. At Q4 it generates ~12.2-14.7 tok/s and fits up to 34k context; beyond that it spills to SSD swap and slows to ~0.2-0.3 tok/s.

How much context fits?โ–ถ

At Q4, up to about 34k tokens stay in fast memory; longer context spills to SSD swap and throughput collapses.