Can MacBook Pro M1 Pro 16 GB run Qwen3.5 35B-A3B?
16 GB unified · 200 GB/s memory bandwidth · Qwen3.5 35B-A3B has 36B parameters (3B active per token).
Short answer
No. It doesn't fit in memory.
Needs ≈16 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 16 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 M1 Pro 16 GB has about 8.5 GB left, so it’s 7.3 GB short.
Ways to make it work
Close everything else
Not enough on its own: with every other app closed it’s still about 4.3 GB short.
Pick a smaller model from the same family
Get more memory
The same chip with 32 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 M1 Pro 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 M1 Pro 16 GB
The best-rated models for chat on this machine.
- MiniCPM5 2B45–60 tok/sExcellent
- Qwen3.5 4B30–40 tok/sExcellent
- Qwen3.5 9B20–30 tok/sExcellent
- GLM-4.6V-Flash (10B)20–30 tok/sExcellent
- Llama 3.2 3B Instruct40–55 tok/sExcellent
- Qwen3 8B25–35 tok/sExcellent
Cheapest machines for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
Hardware rated comfortable or better for chat, lowest price first.
- Mac mini M4 32 GB$1,399 · 30–45 tok/sExcellent
- Desktop PC · Ryzen 9 9950X (no GPU) · 64 GB DDR5$1,400 · 11–18 tok/sComfortable
- Desktop PC · Intel Arc Pro B60 24GB · 32 GB RAM$1,500 · 70–120 tok/sExcellent
- Ryzen AI Max+ 395 mini PC / Framework Desktop · 64 GB$1,600 · 55–75 tok/sExcellent
- Desktop PC · Intel Arc Pro B60 24GB · 64 GB RAM$1,628 · 70–120 tok/sExcellent
- Mac mini M2 Pro 32 GB$1,699 · 55–75 tok/sExcellent
Same chip, other memory: 32 GB
Different tool, context size or workload?
These pages use typical settings. The full check models your exact setup.