text model · Qwen3-Coder · macOS
Can I run Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct on Apple M4 Pro (48GB)?
No. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct needs ~276.2 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M4 Pro (48GB) only has ~32 GB usable.
Needs ~276.2 GB even at Q4_K_M, but only ~32 GB is usable.
That figure is at a 4k context and moves about ±15% as context length changes.
The gap is about 244.2 GB: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct needs roughly 276.2 GB at Q4_K_M and Apple M4 Pro (48GB) leaves only about 32 GB usable for a model. No single tracked device has enough memory; Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct needs a multi-GPU or high-memory rig.
- Q4_K_M needed
- ~276.2 GB
- Usable on device
- ~32 GB
- Device memory
- 48 GB
Which quant fits
- Parameters
- 480B (MoE, 35B active)
- Q4_K_M size
- 270.14 GB
- Q8_0 size
- 475.3 GB
- Context
- 256k
- Ollama tag
- qwen3-coder:480b
- Memory
- 48 GB unified
- Usable for weights
- ~32 GB
- Power draw
- ~140 W
- Best runtime
- Ollama (MLX backend) / MLX direct
What you can run instead
FAQ
Can Apple M4 Pro (48GB) run Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct?
No. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct needs ~276.2 GB even at Q4_K_M, but Apple M4 Pro (48GB) only has ~32 GB usable.
How much memory does Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct need?
Apple M4 Pro (48GB) does not have enough memory. At Q4_K_M the weights are ~270.14 GB; with KV cache and runtime overhead, budget ~276.2 GB at a 4k context. It is a Mixture-of-Experts model (480B total / 35B active), so all experts must stay in memory; memory tracks total params, not active params.
What is the best tool to run Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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/qwen3-coder-480b/apple-m4-pro-48gb) Sources
- apple.com/newsroom/2024/10/apple-introduces-m4-pro-and-m4-max
- apple.com/newsroom/2024/10/new-macbook-pro-features-m4-family-of-chips-and-apple-intelligence
- blog.peddals.com
- github.com/ml-explore
- github.com/raullenchai
- huggingface.co/Qwen
- huggingface.co/unsloth
- lmstudio.ai
- ollama.com
- support.apple.com/en-us/103253
- support.apple.com/en-us/121553
- support.apple.com/en-us/121555
- x.com
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.