Can Mac mini M2 8 GB run Llama 3.1 8B Instruct?
8 GB unified · 100 GB/s memory bandwidth · Llama 3.1 8B Instruct has 8B parameters.
Short answer
No. It doesn't fit in memory.
Needs ≈5.3 GB but only ≈0.5 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 5.3 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), Mac mini M2 8 GB has about 0.5 GB left, so it’s 4.8 GB short.
Ways to make it work
Close everything else
Not enough on its own: with every other app closed it’s still about 1.8 GB short.
Pick a smaller model from the same family
No smaller Llama 3 model in our catalog runs well here. See the other models below.
Get more memory
The same chip with 16 GB handles it: Comfortable.
Check your exact setup
These pages assume typical settings. A shorter context or a lighter chat app can change the answer.
Check Mac mini M2 8 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 Mac mini M2 8 GB
The best-rated models for chat on this machine.
Nothing runs well next to other apps on this machine. With everything else closed, try MiniCPM5 2B, Llama 3.2 3B Instruct or Qwen3.5 4B; expect it to feel tight.
Everything Mac mini M2 8 GB can runCheapest machines for Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
Hardware rated comfortable or better for chat, lowest price first.
Different tool, context size or workload?
These pages use typical settings. The full check models your exact setup.