Can the Apple M4 run Ministral-3-3B-Instruct-2512?
IT FITS
Yes. 9 of 9 formats evaluated fit in 32 GB, the largest Apple M4 configuration, at 8,192 tokens. 3 of them are sized from a published file; the rest are rebuilt from the pinned architecture. The best quality that fits is FP16, needing 9.34 GB and running at an estimated 13 tokens per second.
Fitting in memory is not the same as loading. Whether the runtime and version you have supports this architecture and format on this machine has not been tested here.
Find the Apple M4: Amazon ↗ · eBay (new and used) ↗Store links may pay us a commission. They never decide which card is suggested — the memory arithmetic does.
How long a conversation. At FP16, this pair holds 220,955 tokens of context — roughly 165,716 words — needing 32.0 GB. Past that the Apple M4 runs out of memory, not the model out of context, which would allow 262,144. This is the wall a long chat hits after it has already loaded fine. The nearest round setting below it is 131,072.
By memory configuration
The Apple M4 is sold with 16, 24 or 32 GB of unified memory, and the amount decides the fit. Each row is the best format that fits in that much at 8,192 tokens, whole model resident.
Every format evaluated
3 of them are sized from a published file; the rest are rebuilt from the pinned architecture. The Basis column says which is which for each row. Decode and first-token figures are calibrated estimates, not runs on this card.
| Format | Needs | Of 32 GB | Fits | Decode | First token | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | 9.34 GB | 29% | yes | ~13 tok/sAbout reading pace | no comparable peak | reconstructed size |
| Q8_0 | 5.32 GB | 17% | yes | ~22 tok/sAbout reading pace | no comparable peak | published data |
| Q6_K | 4.82 GB | 15% | yes | ~26 tok/sAbout reading pace | no comparable peak | reconstructed size |
| Q5_K_M | 4.15 GB | 13% | yes | ~28 tok/sAbout reading pace | no comparable peak | published data |
| Q5_0 | 4.37 GB | 14% | yes | ~29 tok/sAbout reading pace | no comparable peak | reconstructed size |
| Q4_K_M | 3.82 GB | 12% | yes | ~31 tok/s | no comparable peak | published data |
| Q4_0 | 3.94 GB | 12% | yes | ~32 tok/s | no comparable peak | reconstructed size |
| Q3_K_M | 3.64 GB | 11% | yes | ~34 tok/s | no comparable peak | reconstructed size |
| Q2_K | 3.22 GB | 10% | yes | ~38 tok/s | no comparable peak | reconstructed size |
Sized at 8,192 tokens of context with the whole model resident — weights, the KV cache and the runtime reserve, offload off. Speed is only quoted for a format that fits: a rate for a configuration that cannot load is not a fact about anything.
Why the first-token figure is the same on every row
First token is modelled from the arithmetic the prompt requires, and that count does not change with the weight format — which is why it reads the same on every row. Real prefill does vary by format, because a quantized matmul is a different kernel; this model does not capture that, and the figure should be read as an order of magnitude rather than a ranking between formats.
What the labels mean
- published data
- Read from a published source — a file's byte count, a model's configuration or a manufacturer's specification — or exact arithmetic on such values. Not a measurement on a machine.
- reconstructed size
- Weight size reconstructed from the pinned architecture, because no published file exists.
- size range
- Only a lower and an upper bound are claimed for this weight size.
- estimate
- Calculated from sourced inputs by a stated method; an estimate, not a measurement.
This page fixes the context at 8,192 tokens and one device. Batch, concurrent users, KV-cache format, clusters and rental cost are all in the calculator, already set to this pairing.
Open in the calculator →Everything the Apple M4 runsBest models for 32 GB
Ministral-3-3B-Instruct-2512’s architecture is read from its publisher’s own config.json at a pinned revision, and the Apple M4’s 32 GB and 120 GB/s come from the manufacturer’s specification. How far each figure can be trusted is published, per format and worst case included, on the accuracy scorecard.
Building this into your own product? A free API key returns exactly these figures, and the widget puts this answer on a product page with one script tag.
Use this answer in your own product
curl -s https://llmbottleneck.com/v1/analyze \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $LLMB_KEY" -H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"model":"mistralai-ministral-3-3b-instruct-2512","quantization":"FP16","context":8192,"hardware":"apple-m4"}'Same engine, same evidence, every field sourced. Free key in one step →
<script src="https://llmbottleneck.com/widget.js" data-model="mistralai-ministral-3-3b-instruct-2512" data-quantization="FP16" data-hardware="apple-m4" data-context="8192"></script>
No key needed. Unbranded, with your own buy button, on Pro and Business →