How much RAM does gemma-4-12B-it need?

gemma-4-12B-it needs about 9.6 GB of memory at Q4_K_M quantization with 4K context. The download itself is 7.2 GB; the extra covers the context cache and runtime overhead.

Can I run gemma-4-12B-it on a laptop?

Yes — it runs comfortably on a machine with 16GB RAM, for example MacBook Air M4.

gemma-4-12B-it: hardware requirements

gemma-4-12B-it needs about 9.6 GB of memory at Q4 quantization — a 7.2 GB download plus room for context and overhead. That fits a machine with 16GB RAM.

Parameters

12B

Tier

Runs on a laptop

Licence

apache-2.0

Released

2026-03-02

Will it run on your machine?

8GB RAMNot enough memory 16GB RAMRuns well 24GB RAMRuns well 32GB RAMRuns well 64GB RAMRuns well 128GB RAMRuns well 8GB VRAMNot enough memory 12GB VRAMRuns well 16GB VRAMRuns well 24GB VRAMRuns well 32GB VRAMRuns well

Download sizes by quantization

Lower quantization means a smaller file and less memory, at some cost to quality. Q4_K_M is the usual starting point. What is this?

Quant	Download	RAM @ 4K	RAM @ 32K	Source
Q4_K_Mrecommended	7.2 GB	9.6 GB	21 GB	estimated
Q5_K_M	8.5 GB	11 GB	22 GB	estimated
Q6_K	9.8 GB	12 GB	24 GB	estimated
Q8_0	13 GB	16 GB	27 GB	estimated
BF16	24 GB	28 GB	39 GB	estimated

“Measured” sizes are read from published GGUF files. “Estimated” sizes are derived from the parameter count and are typically within a few percent. The RAM columns add the context cache and runtime overhead to the download size.

Model card on HuggingFace →API specs & pricing →Verified 2026-09-16Listed for 120 days after release