Can MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18 GB run Gemma 4 26B-A4B?
18 GB unified · 150 GB/s memory bandwidth · Gemma 4 26B-A4B has 25.8B parameters (3.8B active per token).
Short answer
No. It doesn't fit in memory.
Needs ≈12 GB but only ≈11 GB is available after the OS, other apps and Open WebUI.
Why it doesn’t fit
Even its smallest practical version (3-bit) needs about 12 GB for the model, its context memory and the runtime. After macOS (≈3.5 GB), a browser with a few tabs (≈3.0 GB) and Open WebUI (≈1.0 GB), MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18 GB has about 11 GB left, so it’s 1.3 GB short.
Ways to make it work
Close everything else
With no other apps open, Gemma 4 26B-A4B runs at 3-bit: Comfortable at 40–55 tok/s. Expect the system to feel tight while it’s loaded.
Pick a smaller model from the same family
Get more memory
The same chip with 36 GB handles it: Excellent.
Check your exact setup
These pages assume typical settings. A shorter context or a lighter chat app can change the answer.
Check MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18 GB
The same applies to every workload we rate (chat, coding questions, coding in a repository, agentic coding and long documents): they all need at least as much memory as chat.
Other models for MacBook Pro M3 Pro 18 GB
The best-rated models for chat on this machine.
- MiniCPM5 2B35–45 tok/sExcellent
- Qwen3.5 4B25–30 tok/sExcellent
- Llama 3.2 3B Instruct30–45 tok/sExcellent
- Qwen3 8B19–25 tok/sExcellent
- Gemma 4 E4B20–30 tok/sExcellent
- DeepSeek-R1-0528-Qwen3-8B19–25 tok/sExcellent
Cheapest machines for Gemma 4 26B-A4B
Hardware rated comfortable or better for chat, lowest price first.
- Mac mini M4 24 GB$999 · 25–35 tok/sComfortable
- Mac mini M6 24 GB$1,299 · 30–50 tok/sComfortable
- Laptop · Core Ultra 7 258V (Arc 140V) · 32 GB$1,300 · 15–25 tok/sExcellent
- Laptop · Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 (Radeon 890M) · 32 GB$1,300 · 16–25 tok/sComfortable
- Mac mini M4 32 GB$1,399 · 25–35 tok/sExcellent
- MacBook Air M4 24 GB$1,399 · 25–35 tok/sComfortable
Same chip, other memory: 36 GB
Different tool, context size or workload?
These pages use typical settings. The full check models your exact setup.