text model · Llama 3.2 Vision · macOS
Can I run Llama 3.2 Vision 11B on Apple M2 (16GB)?
Yes. Llama 3.2 Vision 11B runs on Apple M2 (16GB) at Q4_K_M (~9 GB of ~10.5 GB usable).
Runs at Q4_K_M using ~9 GB of ~10.5 GB usable.
That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes. Apple M2 (16GB) leaves ~1.5 GB of headroom.
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~9 GB
- Usable on device
- ~10.5 GB
- Device memory
- 16 GB
- Best quant
- Q4_K_M
Which quant fits
Running cost · estimate
- Power draw
- ~50 W
- Electricity / 1M tokens
- ~$0.19
- Pays for itself after
- ~3,868M tok
At ~$0.15/kWh and the estimated ~11 tok/s, a million generated tokens costs about $0.19 in electricity. Versus a hosted API at ~$0.5 per million tokens, the ~$1,199 Apple M2 (16GB) pays for itself after roughly 3,868 million tokens, so local hardware is mostly a fixed cost, not a per-token one. TDP is the peak draw, so this is an upper bound. Assumptions.
Run it
Pick your tool. All 3 load the same Q4_K_M weights.
ollama run llama3.2-vision:11b llama-cli -hf leafspark/Llama-3.2-11B-Vision-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M lms get leafspark/Llama-3.2-11B-Vision-Instruct-GGUF - Parameters
- 10.7B
- Q4_K_M size
- 7.36 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 11.49 GB
- Context
- 128k
- Ollama tag
- llama3.2-vision:11b
- Memory
- 16 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~10.5 GB
- Power draw
- ~50 W
- Best runtime
- Ollama (llama.cpp Metal backend) / MLX
You could also run
Run Llama 3.2 Vision 11B on other hardware
FAQ
Can Apple M2 (16GB) run Llama 3.2 Vision 11B?
Yes. Llama 3.2 Vision 11B runs on Apple M2 (16GB) at Q4_K_M (~9 GB of ~10.5 GB usable).
How much memory does Llama 3.2 Vision 11B need?
Apple M2 (16GB) has room to spare. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~7.36 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~9 GB at a 4k context.
What is the best tool to run Llama 3.2 Vision 11B 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.
Embed this
[](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/llama-3.2-vision-11b/apple-m2-16gb) Sources
- apple.com/newsroom/2022/06
- apple.com/newsroom/2022/07
- developer.apple.com
- github.com/ml-explore
- github.com/raullenchai
- huggingface.co/leafspark
- huggingface.co/meta-llama
- lmstudio.ai
- ollama.com/library/llama3.2-vision
- ollama.com/library/llama3.2-vision/tags
- stencel.io
- support.apple.com/en-us/103253
- support.apple.com/en-us/111869
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.