StarCoder2 on Apple M2 Max · 64GB

✅ Runs comfortably — StarCoder2 15B @ Q8_0
StarCoder2 15B at Q8_0 needs ~17.2 GB (weights 15.8 GB + KV 640 MB + overhead 809 MB @ 8K ctx) of your 45.0 GB usable (of 64.0 GB unified memory) — plenty of headroom. Expect ~11–18 tok/s (usable).
context @ Q8_0: comfortable to 16K
quantneedsspeed
✓ Q8_017.2 GB~11–18 tok/s (usable)
✓ Q5_K_M11.7 GB~16–25 tok/s (fast)
✓ Q4_K_M10.1 GB~18–30 tok/s (fast)
✓ Q3_K_M8.4 GB~20–35 tok/s (fast)
$runlocal install starcoder2:15b
runlocal verdict card
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StarCoder2: 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 StarCoder2'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
Qwen2.5-Coder 2kv/128hd4kv/128hd ✅ Runs (tight)
Yi 1.5 4kv/128hd ✅ Runs (tight)
Qwen3 Coder 30B-A3B 4kv/128hd ✅ Runs comfortably
SmolLM3 3B 4kv/128hd ✅ Runs comfortably
Yi-Coder 9B 4kv/128hd ✅ Runs comfortably

Check any combo yourself: open the checker →