DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified)
Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified) can run DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B at 14 tok/s at Q4_K_M, though performance is acceptable. Consider a higher-end GPU for better results.
Model Size
7.62B
Device VRAM
18 GB
Bandwidth
150 GB/s
Quantizations Tested
1
Performance by Quantization
Each row shows DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B performance at a different quality level on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified).
| Quantization | Speed | TTFT | Fits in VRAM | Rating | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 14 tok/s | 410ms | ✓ Yes | Acceptable | estimated |
Notes
Q4_K_M
Reasoning model. Slower on M3 Pro but usable.
About DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B (7.62B) is a reasoning, chat model. Compact distilled reasoning model for chat and inference.
View all DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B hardware options →About Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified)
Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified) has 18 GB at 150 GB/s. Available in MacBook Pro 14", MacBook Pro 16".
See all models Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified) can run →Source: MLX performance estimates (2026-03-15)
Data last updated: 2026-03-15