text model · GLM · macOS
Can I run GLM-4.6 on Apple M5 (16GB)?
No. GLM-4.6 needs ~221.3 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M5 (16GB) only has ~10.5 GB usable.
Needs ~221.3 GB even at Q4_K_M, but only ~10.5 GB is usable.
That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes.
The gap is about 210.8 GB: GLM-4.6 needs roughly 221.3 GB at Q4_K_M and Apple M5 (16GB) leaves only about 10.5 GB usable for a model. No single tracked device has enough memory; GLM-4.6 needs a multi-GPU or high-memory rig.
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~221.3 GB
- Usable on device
- ~10.5 GB
- Device memory
- 16 GB
Which quant fits
How to run it
On macOS use LM Studio (Polished GUI, ships MLX on Apple Silicon, one-click model downloads.).
- Parameters
- 357B (MoE, 32B active)
- Q4_K_M size
- 216 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 379 GB
- Context
- 200k
- Memory
- 16 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~10.5 GB
- Best runtime
- MLX direct / Ollama (MLX backend)
What you can run instead
FAQ
Can Apple M5 (16GB) run GLM-4.6?
No. GLM-4.6 needs ~221.3 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M5 (16GB) only has ~10.5 GB usable.
How much memory does GLM-4.6 need?
Apple M5 (16GB) does not have enough memory. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~216 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~221.3 GB at a 4k context. It is a Mixture-of-Experts model (357B total / 32B active), so all experts must stay in memory; memory tracks total params, not active params.
What is the best tool to run GLM-4.6 on macOS?
LM Studio for a simple setup; mlx-lm for the most speed. vLLM is NOT a Mac tool, it is a CUDA/Linux serving engine. Unified memory is not a fixed VRAM slice; ~70% is usable for weights.
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A live badge for your model card or README, updated as the data is. [](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/glm-4.6/apple-m5-16gb) Sources
Weights are measured from GGUF files; KV cache and overhead are computed, so totals can vary ~15% with context and runtime. Any tok/s is a bandwidth estimate. See methodology.