Question 1

Can a MacBook Air M3 (8GB) run Granite 4.2 8B?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Granite 4.2 8B runs at Q2_K (3.4 GB) at about 15–23 tok/s on a MacBook Air M3 (8GB).

Question 2

How much memory does Granite 4.2 8B need?

Accepted Answer

Granite 4.2 8B needs about 4.9 GB at 4K context at its smallest quantization. A MacBook Air M3 (8GB) has 8.0 GB.

Quant	Size	Speed	Fit
Q2_K	3.4 GB	15–23 tok/s	Runs great
Q3_K_M	4.4 GB	12–19 tok/s	Won't fit
Q4_K_M	5.4 GB	11–16 tok/s	Won't fit
Q5_K_M	6.3 GB	9–14 tok/s	Won't fit
Q6_K	7.2 GB	8–12 tok/s	Won't fit
Q8_0	9.4 GB	6–10 tok/s	Won't fit
FP16	17.6 GB	4–5 tok/s	Won't fit