Gemma 3 on Apple M2 · 16GB

✅ Runs comfortably — Gemma 3 4B @ Q8_0
Gemma 3 4B at Q8_0 needs ~5.8 GB (weights 4.3 GB + KV 1.1 GB + overhead 512 MB @ 8K ctx) of your 8.2 GB usable (of 16.0 GB unified memory) — plenty of headroom. Expect ~11–18 tok/s (usable).
context @ Q8_0: comfortable to 8K · runs to 64K · won't fit past that on this rig
quantneedsspeed
✓ Q8_05.8 GB~11–18 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q5_K_M4.4 GB~15–25 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q4_K_M4.0 GB~17–30 tok/s (fast)
$runlocal install gemma3:4b
runlocal verdict card
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Gemma 3: Runs comfortably
for your own README — links back here

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

Also runs on a Apple M2: DeepSeek-R1 (distill) · Qwen3 · Llama 3.1 · Qwen2.5 · Mistral 7B

Best models for a Apple M2 · 16GB →

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 M2 · 16GB too:

modelsharesverdict here
Gemma 4 8kv/256hd 🐢 CPU-only (slow)
Gemma 2 16kv/128hd4kv/256hd8kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably
Falcon3 7B 4kv/256hd ✅ Runs (tight)

Check any combo yourself: open the checker →