Can I run Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF on a Mac with 16 GB?

Yes, just

Its IQ3_XXS file (9.92 GB) fits in the 10.7 GB a Mac with 16 GB can use, with room for ≈ 9K tokens of context.

Full analysis of Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF Everything that runs on Mac with 16 GB Get the IQ3_XXS file on Hugging Face

ollama run hf.co/byteshape/Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF:IQ3_XXS

Files and context on Mac with 16 GB

Each file of Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF (and of GGUF versions the site has analyzed), and how much context fits next to it, with the context cache in 16-bit or 8-bit.

File	Size	On Mac with 16 GB	Context (16-bit)	Context (8-bit)
IQ4_XS	13.1 GB	Doesn't fit	—	—
IQ3_S	11.0 GB	Doesn't fit	—	—
IQ3_XS	10.4 GB	Doesn't fit	2K	5K
IQ3_XXS	9.92 GB	Tight	9K	18K
IQ2_XXS	8.84 GB	Tight	25K	50K

Qwen3.8-27B-GGUF on other hardware

Popular models that run on Mac with 16 GB

Assumes 67% of the Mac's memory is usable (macOS's default limit for the GPU; it can be raised) and at least 4K tokens of context for one conversation, with the context cache in 16-bit unless noted. Fits leaves at least 20% of that memory for context; Tight leaves less.