Gemma 2 on Apple M2 Max · 64GB

✅ Runs comfortably — Gemma 2 27B @ Q8_0
Gemma 2 27B at Q8_0 needs ~31.2 GB (weights 26.9 GB + KV 2.9 GB + overhead 1.3 GB @ 8K ctx) of your 45.0 GB usable (of 64.0 GB unified memory) — plenty of headroom. Expect ~6–10 tok/s (slow).
context @ Q8_0: comfortable to 8K
quantneedsspeed
✓ Q8_031.2 GB~6–10 tok/s (slow)
✓ Q5_K_M21.8 GB~8–14 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q4_K_M19.0 GB~10–16 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q3_K_M15.9 GB~12–19 tok/s (usable)
$runlocal install gemma2:27b
runlocal verdict card
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Gemma 2: Runs comfortably
for your own README — links back here

Same model, other machines: Apple M1 · Apple M1 Pro · Apple M2 · Apple M3 Pro · Apple M2 Pro · Apple M4 Pro

Also runs on a Apple M2 Max: DeepSeek-R1 (distill) · Qwen3 · Llama 3.1 · Llama 3.3 · Qwen2.5

Best models for a Apple M2 Max · 64GB →

Architecturally similar

These share Gemma 2's KV-cache geometry — they size memory the same way, so here's how they fit on a Apple M2 Max · 64GB too:

modelsharesverdict here
Gemma 4 8kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably
Gemma 3 16kv/128hd4kv/256hd8kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably
Falcon3 7B 4kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably

Check any combo yourself: open the checker →