Running machine learning models like DeepSeek on macOS has become increasingly practical with Apple Silicon's unified memory and processing power advancements. DeepSeek is a powerful tool for various AI applications but requires significant resources depending on model size. This guide covers everything you need to know about Mac hardware specifications for DeepSeek, including full and quantized models, memory needs, and recommended devices.

DeepSeek full models require substantial memory, especially those with hundreds of billions of parameters. Below is a detailed breakdown of full models and their memory requirements.

Full Models

Model Variant	Parameters (B)	Unified Memory (FP16)	Recommended Mac Configuration
DeepSeek-LLM 7B	7	~16 GB	MacBook Air (M3, 24GB RAM)
DeepSeek-LLM 67B	67	~154 GB	Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 128GB RAM) x2
DeepSeek V2 16B	16	~37 GB	Mac Studio (M2 Max, 96GB RAM)
DeepSeek V2 236B	236	~543 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM)
DeepSeek V2.5 236B	236	~543 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM)
DeepSeek V3 671B	671	~1,543 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM) x3
DeepSeek-R1-Zero	671	~1,543 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM) x3
DeepSeek-R1	671	~1,543 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM) x3
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B	1.5	~3.9 GB	MacBook Air (M1, 8GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-7B	7	~18 GB	MacBook Air (M3, 24GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B	8	~21 GB	MacBook Pro (M2, 32GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-14B	14	~36 GB	MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 48GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B	32	~82 GB	MacBook Pro (M3 Max, 128GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B	70	~181 GB	Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192GB RAM)

Quantized Models

Quantization reduces the memory needs of DeepSeek models by using lower precision. For 4-bit quantization, models require significantly less unified memory, making it possible to run larger models on standard Mac setups.

Model Variant	Parameters (B)	Unified Memory (4-bit)	Recommended Mac Configuration
DeepSeek-LLM 7B	7	~4 GB	MacBook Air (M2, 8GB RAM)
DeepSeek-LLM 67B	67	~38 GB	MacBook Pro (M4 Pro, 48GB RAM)
DeepSeek V2 16B	16	~9 GB	MacBook Air (M1, 16GB RAM)
DeepSeek V2 236B	236	~136 GB	Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192GB RAM)
DeepSeek V3 671B	671	~386 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Zero	671	~436 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1	671	~436 GB	Mac Studio (M3 Ultra, 512GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-1.5B	1.5	~1 GB	MacBook Air (M1, 8GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-7B	7	~4.5 GB	MacBook Air (M1, 8GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-8B	8	~5 GB	MacBook Air (M1, 16GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-14B	14	~9 GB	MacBook Air (M1, 16GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B	32	~21 GB	MacBook Pro (M2, 32GB RAM)
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Llama-70B	70	~46 GB	MacBook Pro (M1 Max, 64GB RAM)

Note: These are just the bare requirements for running the model, assuming nothing else is running on the Mac. The setup would not deliver great performance, and the context length would be small. It is recommended to have much more than the minimum requirement. If your available memory barely fits the model, you may need to tune parameters such as batch size.

Recommendations for Apple Silicon Machines

Choosing the right Apple Silicon device depends on the size of your DeepSeek models and their memory needs. Here's a breakdown of recommendations:

MacBook Air (M2, 16GB–24GB): Suitable for small quantized models with fewer than 7 billion parameters.
MacBook Pro (M2 Max, 64GB): A good choice for mid-range models and some smaller full models.
Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 192GB): Most suitable for large full models, often requiring multiple machines in distributed setups.
Mac Pro (Future Consideration): Potentially a key option for extremely large models when Apple releases upgraded Mac Pro configurations.

Conclusion

Running DeepSeek models on macOS is feasible with proper hardware planning. Smaller models can run efficiently on MacBook Air or MacBook Pro devices, but larger models require powerful configurations like the Mac Studio with M2 Ultra and high unified memory. Quantized models offer a more accessible solution for users without high-end hardware.

By understanding your hardware needs, you can optimize performance and fully leverage Apple's AI and machine learning workloads capabilities with DeepSeek.

DeepSeek System Requirements Guide For Mac OS (V3, R1, All Variants)