Apple M4 Max meets the minimum VRAM requirement for Q4 inference of bigcode/starcoder2-3b. Review the quantization breakdown below to see how higher precision settings impact VRAM and throughput.
Apple M4 Max can run bigcode/starcoder2-3b with Q4 quantization. At approximately 94 tokens/second, you can expect Good speed - acceptable for interactive use.
You have 126GB headroom, which is sufficient for system overhead and smooth operation.
| Quantization | VRAM needed | VRAM available | Estimated speed | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4 | 2GB | 128GB | 93.98 tok/s | ✅ Fits comfortably |
| Q8 | 3GB | 128GB | 65.89 tok/s | ✅ Fits comfortably |
| FP16 | 6GB | 128GB | 34.70 tok/s | ✅ Fits comfortably |