Gemma 4 on Apple M4 Max · 128GB

✅ Runs comfortably — Gemma 4 12B @ Q8_0
Gemma 4 12B at Q8_0 needs ~15.8 GB (weights 12.2 GB + KV 3.0 GB + overhead 626 MB @ 8K ctx) of your 93.0 GB usable (of 128 GB unified memory) — plenty of headroom. Expect ~15–25 tok/s (usable).
context @ Q8_0: comfortable to 128K · runs to its full 256K
quantneedsspeed
✓ Q8_015.8 GB~15–25 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q6_K13.0 GB~18–30 tok/s (fast)
✓ Q5_K_M11.7 GB~20–35 tok/s (fast)
✓ Q4_K_M10.6 GB~20–35 tok/s (fast)
runlocal verdict card
download card share on x share on reddit drop it in your model-drop post
Gemma 4: 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 M4 Max: DeepSeek-R1 (distill) · Qwen3 · Qwen2.5 · Llama 3.1 · Llama 3.3

Best models for a Apple M4 Max · 128GB →

Architecturally similar

These share Gemma 4's KV-cache geometry — they size memory the same way, so here's how they fit on a Apple M4 Max · 128GB too:

modelsharesverdict here
Gemma 3 8kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably
Gemma 2 8kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably

Check any combo yourself: open the checker →