LLaVA 1.6 13B on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified)
Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified) can run LLaVA 1.6 13B at 8 tok/s at Q4_K_M, though performance is acceptable. Consider a higher-end GPU for better results.
Model Size
13B
Device VRAM
18 GB
Bandwidth
150 GB/s
Quantizations Tested
1
Performance by Quantization
Each row shows LLaVA 1.6 13B performance at a different quality level on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified).
| Quantization | Speed | TTFT | Fits in VRAM | Rating | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 8 tok/s | 600ms | ✓ Yes | Acceptable | estimated |
Notes
Q4_K_M
Q4_K_M ~8GB fits. Slower at 150 GB/s but usable for image analysis.
About LLaVA 1.6 13B
LLaVA 1.6 13B (13B) is a chat, reasoning, multi-purpose model. Multimodal model — processes images and text together. Built on Vicuna 13B with a vision encoder. Can analyze screenshots, diagrams, and photos. Useful for builders who need to process visual content in their workflows.
View all LLaVA 1.6 13B 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: 2026-03-01