More
Submit build

Can Apple M4 run Qwen3.5 9B?

Last updated:

Yes. Measured 17.7 tok/s generation (llama.cpp server (Metal), Q4_K_M; source).

Every measured result for Qwen3.5 9B on Apple M4

BuildQuant / setupEnginetok/s
Mac mini M4 (16 GB): Qwen3.5 9B Q4_K_M at 17.7 tok/s, Gemma 4 12B at 13.1 (llama.cpp Metal)Q4_K_Mllama.cpp server (Metal)17.7source

Memory: Apple M4 has 16 GB. Qwen3.5 9B weights are about 5.5 GB at Q4_K_M (8.95B params × 4.89 bits ÷ 8, before context/KV cache). Arithmetic, not a measurement; long contexts need more. Check other quants in the VRAM calculator.

Speeds are decode (generation) tokens/sec as reported by each source; quant, engine and context differ, so small gaps are noise.

All measured speeds for Qwen3.5 9B: best home rig for Qwen3.5 9B.

Qwen3.5 9B on other hardware: RTX 4090 · RTX 5090

Other models measured on Apple M4: Gemma 4 12B

Not enough VRAM? Rent before you buy. Run Qwen3.5 9B on a bigger GPU on a rented 24–96 GB cloud GPU by the hour and see the real speed before spending €1,000+. Try it on Runpod
Referral link: if you sign up with Google and add $10, Runpod gives you and RigBase bonus credit (terms). It never affects our data.