DeepSeek V3 on Apple M4 Pro (48GB)
Apple M4 Pro (48GB) cannot run DeepSeek V3 at any quantization level. The 48 GB of VRAM is insufficient.
Model Size
671B
Device VRAM
48 GB
Bandwidth
273 GB/s
Quantizations Tested
1
Performance by Quantization
Each row shows DeepSeek V3 performance at a different quality level on Apple M4 Pro (48GB).
| Quantization | Speed | TTFT | Fits in VRAM | Rating | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q2_K | — | — | ✗ Offload | Not Viable | estimated |
Notes
Q2_K
671B MoE model requires 115GB+ at Q2_K. 48GB insufficient. Would need M4 Max 128GB.
About DeepSeek V3
DeepSeek V3 (671B) is a chat, coding, ai coding, reasoning, multi-purpose model. Massive MoE model rivaling GPT-4 class. Only ~37B parameters active per token despite 671B total. Requires multi-GPU or very large unified memory (128GB+ Apple Silicon at Q2/Q3). Not for casual home use — included for completeness and to show what the high end looks like.
View all DeepSeek V3 hardware options →About Apple M4 Pro (48GB)
Apple M4 Pro (48GB) has 48 GB at 273 GB/s. Available in MacBook Pro 16-inch, Mac Mini.
See all models Apple M4 Pro (48GB) can run →Source: MLX performance estimates (2026-03-15)
Data last updated: 2026-03-15