Can the Apple M2 Pro (32 GB) run StarCoder2 7B?

55 pts

Yes, it runs well

Runs well. At Q3_K_M it needs about 6.4 GB of 21.4 GB usable, with an estimated speed of 38.1 tok/s.

Best quant: Q3_K_M
Generation speed: 38.1 tok/s
Prompt processing: 588 tok/s
First token (1K prompt): 1.7 s
Largest safe context: 16K

Download StarCoder2 7B

Recommended for the Apple M2 Pro (32 GB): Q3_K_M. Every other quantization has its own download link in the table below.

Quickest · Ollama

One command downloads a ready-to-run version and starts a chat.

ollama run starcoder2:7b-q3_K_M

Get Ollama at ollama.com/download (opens in a new tab) · model page (opens in a new tab)

Quantized files · GGUF

Works in LM Studio, llama.cpp, Jan and Ollama. No sign-in needed.

Download the Q3_K_M file (opens in a new tab)

huggingface.co/QuantFactory/starcoder2-7b-GGUF (opens in a new tab)

ollama run hf.co/QuantFactory/starcoder2-7b-GGUF:Q3_K_M

Original weights · Hugging Face

Full-precision files from BigCode, for fine-tuning, vLLM, Transformers.

huggingface.co/bigcode/starcoder2-7b (opens in a new tab)

No sign-in needed.

Links checked 6 days ago against Hugging Face, Ollama and GitHub.

How the C grade is scored

Every result gets up to 100 points from four parts. The points decide the letter grade.

Model qualityEditorial quality tier of the model, scaled by the quantization or precision used.	9.1 / 45
Memory fitFull marks when everything sits in GPU or unified memory; fewer when part spills to system RAM.	25.0 / 25
SpeedGeneration speed against a 40 tokens/s target for LLMs, or render time against a target for image and video.	14.6 / 15
Memory useRewards using the memory you have, so a bigger, better variant beats a tiny one that leaves most memory idle.	6.9 / 15
Total	55.6 / 100	55 ptsUsable (C) · 55 of 100 points: Model quality 9.1/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.6/15, Memory use 6.9/15

Grade scale: S 85+ · A 72+ · B 58+ · C 42+ · D 25+ · F under 25 points.

Every quantization on the Apple M2 Pro (32 GB)

Quant	Memory needed	Available	Speed	Fit	Grade · points	Download
`Q2_K`	5.7 GB	21.4 GB	48.4 tok/s	Runs well	53 ptsUsable (C) · 53 of 100 points: Model quality 7.6/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 6.2/15	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q3_K_M`	6.4 GB	21.4 GB	38.1 tok/s	Runs well	55 ptsUsable (C) · 55 of 100 points: Model quality 9.1/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 14.6/15, Memory use 6.9/15	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q4_K_M`	7.2 GB	21.4 GB	29.5 tok/s	Runs well	55 ptsUsable (C) · 55 of 100 points: Model quality 10.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 12.9/15, Memory use 7.8/15	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q5_K_M`	7.9 GB	21.4 GB	24.4 tok/s	Runs well	55 ptsUsable (C) · 55 of 100 points: Model quality 10.5/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 11.7/15, Memory use 8.5/15	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q6_K`	8.7 GB	21.4 GB	20.5 tok/s	Runs well	55 ptsUsable (C) · 55 of 100 points: Model quality 10.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 10.7/15, Memory use 9.4/15	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`Q8_0`	10.5 GB	21.4 GB	15.0 tok/s	Runs well	56 ptsUsable (C) · 56 of 100 points: Model quality 10.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 9.2/15, Memory use 11.3/15	GGUF (opens in a new tab)
`F16`	17.2 GB	21.4 GB	6.9 tok/s	Runs well	57 ptsUsable (C) · 57 of 100 points: Model quality 10.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 6.2/15, Memory use 15.0/15	Original weights (opens in a new tab)

Memory figures assume 8K of context. Longer conversations or documents grow the KV cache.

Other hardware that runs it

65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 10.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 F16 · 40.5 tok/s
65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 10.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER Q8_0 · 43.9 tok/s
65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 10.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 14.6/15 Intel Arc B580 Q6_K · 41.4 tok/s
65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 10.7/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 14.6/15 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 12GB Q6_K · 42.8 tok/s
65 ptsGood (B) · 65 of 100 points: Model quality 10.3/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 15.0/15 NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Q4_K_M · 46.6 tok/s
64 ptsGood (B) · 64 of 100 points: Model quality 10.8/45, Memory fit 25.0/25, Speed 15.0/15, Memory use 13.8/15 AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Q8_0 · 48.0 tok/s

Estimates come from published hardware specs and our open formulas, not from running the model on your machine. Real speed varies with runtime, drivers and settings. Numbers marked “Measured” come from a linked benchmark.