Stable Diffusion XL 1.0 on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified)
Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified) handles Stable Diffusion XL 1.0 well at FP16. A solid choice for this model.
Model Size
6.6B
Device VRAM
18 GB
Bandwidth
150 GB/s
Quantizations Tested
1
Performance by Quantization
Each row shows Stable Diffusion XL 1.0 performance at a different quality level on Apple M3 Pro (18GB Unified).
| Quantization | Speed | TTFT | Fits in VRAM | Rating | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FP16 | — | — | ✓ Yes | Good | estimated |
Notes
FP16
5GB fits easily. Slower than M4 Pro. Good for image generation.
About Stable Diffusion XL 1.0
Stable Diffusion XL 1.0 (6.6B) is a image gen model. The standard for local image generation. 1024x1024 base resolution. Massive LoRA/checkpoint ecosystem. Runs well on 8GB+ VRAM. VRAM usage varies by resolution and batch size — 6.5GB is for single 1024x1024 generation.
View all Stable Diffusion XL 1.0 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