Gemma 3 on Apple M1 · 8GB

✅ Runs comfortably — Gemma 3 1B @ Q8_0
Gemma 3 1B at Q8_0 needs ~1.7 GB (weights 1013 MB + KV 208 MB + overhead 512 MB @ 8K ctx) of your 2.9 GB usable (of 8.0 GB unified memory) — plenty of headroom. Expect ~35–55 tok/s (fast).
context @ Q8_0: comfortable to 16K · runs to its full 32K
quantneedsspeed
✓ Q8_01.7 GB~35–55 tok/s (fast)
✓ Q4_K_M1.3 GB~50–85 tok/s (very fast)
$runlocal install gemma3:1b
runlocal verdict card
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Gemma 3: Runs comfortably
for your own README — links back here

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

Also runs on a Apple M1: DeepSeek-R1 (distill) · Qwen2.5 · Qwen3 · Llama 3.2 · Gemma 2

Best models for a Apple M1 · 8GB →

Architecturally similar

These share Gemma 3's KV-cache geometry — they size memory the same way, so here's how they fit on a Apple M1 · 8GB too:

modelsharesverdict here
Gemma 4 8kv/256hd ❌ Won't fit
Falcon3 7B 4kv/256hd 🐢 CPU-only (slow)

Check any combo yourself: open the checker →