How much VRAM does Qwen 2.5 72B need?

Qwen 2.5 72B (72B parameters) requires approximately 58.1 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Qwen 2.5 72B?

The recommended quantization for Qwen 2.5 72B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

Can it run?

No, Qwen 2.5 72B requires more memory than MacBook Air M1 16GB provides.

FWon't run

Too heavy

Using Q4_K_M in Ollama

Capabilities:

Fit status

Too heavy

Decode

2.0 tok/s

TTFT

96800 ms

Safe context

Memory

58.1 GB / 11.5 GB

Weights43.9 GB

KV Cache11.3 GB

Runtime1.2 GB

Headroom1.7 GB

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Agentic Coding	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	140800 ms	5K
Chat	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	52800 ms	4K
Coding	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	96800 ms	4K
RAG	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	176000 ms	5K
Reasoning	F	Too heavy	2.0 tok/s	114400 ms	4K

How Qwen 2.5 72B (72B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Air M1 16GB (11.5 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	28.1 GB	Low	F0
Q3_K_S	3	35.3 GB	Low	F0
NVFP4	4

Upgrade options

MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GBBudget pick

C5.5 tok/s decode

~$2,499 MSRP

MacBook Pro M4 Max 96GBBest value

C7.8 tok/s decode

~$2,499 MSRP