Llama 3.2 1B Instruct on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified)
Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified) handles Llama 3.2 1B Instruct well at 45 tok/s at Q8_0. A solid choice for this model.
Model Size
1.24B
Device VRAM
18 GB
Bandwidth
150 GB/s
Quantizations Tested
1
Performance by Quantization
Each row shows Llama 3.2 1B Instruct performance at a different quality level on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified).
| Quantization | Speed | TTFT | Fits in VRAM | Rating | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q8_0 | 45 tok/s | 180ms | ✓ Yes | Good | estimated |
Notes
Q8_0
150 GB/s bandwidth limits throughput vs M4 Pro. Good for lightweight tasks.
About Llama 3.2 1B Instruct
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct (1.24B) is a chat, coding model. The smallest Llama model. Runs on integrated GPUs and even CPUs. Useful for basic classification, simple Q&A, and as a draft model for speculative decoding. Limited reasoning capability.
View all Llama 3.2 1B Instruct 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