Gemma 3 on Apple M2 Max · 64GB

✅ Runs comfortably — Gemma 3 27B @ Q8_0
Gemma 3 27B at Q8_0 needs ~32.4 GB (weights 27.1 GB + KV 3.9 GB + overhead 1.4 GB @ 8K ctx) of your 45.0 GB usable (of 64.0 GB unified memory) — plenty of headroom. Expect ~6–9 tok/s (slow).
context @ Q8_0: comfortable to 8K · runs to 32K · won't fit past that on this rig
quantneedsspeed
✓ Q8_032.4 GB~6–9 tok/s (slow)
✓ Q5_K_M23.0 GB~8–13 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q4_K_M20.1 GB~9–15 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q3_K_M17.0 GB~11–18 tok/s (usable)
$runlocal install gemma3:27b
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 M2 · Apple M3 Pro · Apple M2 Pro · Apple M4 Pro

Also runs on a Apple M2 Max: DeepSeek-R1 (distill) · Qwen3 · Llama 3.1 · Llama 3.3 · Qwen2.5

Best models for a Apple M2 Max · 64GB →

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 Max · 64GB too:

modelsharesverdict here
Gemma 4 8kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably
Gemma 2 16kv/128hd4kv/256hd8kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably
Falcon3 7B 4kv/256hd ✅ Runs comfortably

Check any combo yourself: open the checker →