Can MacBook Pro M5 16 GB run GLM-4.5-Air (106B-A12B)?
16 GB unified · 153 GB/s memory bandwidth · GLM-4.5-Air (106B-A12B) has 110.5B parameters (12B active per token).
Short answer
No. It doesn't fit in memory.
Needs ≈48 GB but only ≈8.5 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 48 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 M5 16 GB has about 8.5 GB left, so it’s 39 GB short.
Ways to make it work
Close everything else
Not enough on its own: with every other app closed it’s still about 36 GB short.
Pick a smaller model from the same family
Get more memory
You’d want at least 55 GB of memory in total. The machines below are the cheapest that run it comfortably.
Check your exact setup
These pages assume typical settings. A shorter context or a lighter chat app can change the answer.
Check MacBook Pro M5 16 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 M5 16 GB
The best-rated models for chat on this machine.
- MiniCPM5 2B25–45 tok/sExcellent
- Qwen3.5 4B19–30 tok/sExcellent
- Llama 3.2 3B Instruct25–45 tok/sExcellent
- Gemma 4 E4B16–25 tok/sExcellent
- Llama 3.1 8B Instruct15–25 tok/sExcellent
- Qwen2.5-Coder 7B Instruct17–30 tok/sExcellent
Cheapest machines for GLM-4.5-Air (106B-A12B)
Hardware rated comfortable or better for chat, lowest price first.
- Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC / Framework Desktop · 128 GB$2,000 · 17–25 tok/sExcellent
- Mac Studio M2 Max 96 GB$3,799 · 25–35 tok/sExcellent
- MacBook Pro M3 Max 96 GB$3,999 · 19–25 tok/sExcellent
- Mac Studio M5 Max 128 GB$4,099 · 25–45 tok/sExcellent
- Mac Studio M4 Max 128 GB$4,099 · 25–35 tok/sExcellent
- MacBook Pro M2 Max 96 GB$5,099 · 25–35 tok/sExcellent
Different tool, context size or workload?
These pages use typical settings. The full check models your exact setup.