text model · MiniCPM · macOS
Can I run MiniCPM-V 4.6 on Apple M1 (8GB)?
Yes. MiniCPM-V 4.6 runs on Apple M1 (8GB) at Q4_K_M (~1.6 GB of ~5.5 GB usable).
Runs at Q4_K_M using ~1.6 GB of ~5.5 GB usable. You have room for FP16 for higher quality.
That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes. Apple M1 (8GB) leaves ~3.9 GB of headroom, room to step up to FP16 for higher quality.
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~1.6 GB
- Usable on device
- ~5.5 GB
- Device memory
- 8 GB
- Best quant
- Q4_K_M
Which quant fits
Running cost · estimate
- Power draw
- ~39 W
- Electricity / 1M tokens
- ~$0.02
- Pays for itself after
- ~2,081M tok
At ~$0.15/kWh and the estimated ~103 tok/s, a million generated tokens costs about $0.02 in electricity. Versus a hosted API at ~$0.5 per million tokens, the ~$999 Apple M1 (8GB) pays for itself after roughly 2,081 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 minicpm-v4.6 llama-cli -hf openbmb/MiniCPM-V-4_6-gguf:Q4_K_M lms get openbmb/MiniCPM-V-4_6-gguf - Parameters
- 1.3B
- Q4_K_M size
- 0.53 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 0.81 GB
- Context
- 256k
- Ollama tag
- minicpm-v4.6
- Memory
- 8 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~5.5 GB
- Power draw
- ~39 W
- Best runtime
- Ollama (llama.cpp Metal backend)
You could also run
Run MiniCPM-V 4.6 on other hardware
FAQ
Can Apple M1 (8GB) run MiniCPM-V 4.6?
Yes. MiniCPM-V 4.6 runs on Apple M1 (8GB) at Q4_K_M (~1.6 GB of ~5.5 GB usable).
How much memory does MiniCPM-V 4.6 need?
Apple M1 (8GB) has room to spare. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~0.53 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~1.6 GB at a 4k context.
What is the best tool to run MiniCPM-V 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.
Embed this
A live badge for your model card or README, updated as the data is. [](https://localmodel.run/can-i-run/minicpm-v-4.6/apple-m1-8gb) 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.