Can the Mac 16 GB run Illustrious XL / Pony (SDXL anime)?
Yes. 16-bit fits on the Mac 16 GB with 5.6 GB to spare.
Take 16-bit (6.9 GB). In use it comes to about 7.1 GB, with 5.6 GB left over on 12.7 GB.
01What to download
| Part | File | Folder | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checkpoint | Illustrious-XL-v0.1.safetensors 16-bit · OnomaAIResearch/Illustrious-xl-early-release-v0 | models/checkpoints | 6.9 GB | Download → |
| Total download · keep about the same free on disk | 6.9 GB | |||
One file: the checkpoint already contains the text encoders and the VAE. On a Mac, FP8 text encoders do not load, so a 16-bit one is listed. Sizes from Hugging Face, 2026-10-01.
Shared memory: about 12.9 GB of your 16 GB. On this machine the model, the text encoder, the VAE and the operating system all use the same memory. That leaves room, so nothing has to be swapped to disk. calculated
02Every Illustrious / Pony file on 12.7 GB
| File | Size | Needed | On this card | Quality | Download |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16-bit ← SAFETENSORS · OnomaAIResearch | 6.9 GB | 7.1 GB | fits · 5.6 GB spare | the original weights | Hugging Face → |
| Q8_0 GGUF · calcuis | 2.7 GB | 4.7 GB | fits · 8.0 GB spare | practically identical to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q6_K GGUF · calcuis | 2.1 GB | 4.1 GB | fits · 8.6 GB spare | very close to the original | Hugging Face → |
| Q5_K_M GGUF · calcuis | 1.8 GB | 3.8 GB | fits · 8.9 GB spare | close; small differences in fine detail | Hugging Face → |
| Q4_K_M GGUF · calcuis | 1.5 GB | 3.5 GB | fits · 9.2 GB spare | good; some loss in fine detail and text | Hugging Face → |
| Q3_K_M GGUF · calcuis | 1.2 GB | 3.2 GB | fits · 9.5 GB spare | noticeable loss of detail | Hugging Face → |
| Q2_K GGUF · calcuis | 0.9 GB | 2.9 GB | fits · 9.8 GB spare | heavy loss; a last resort | Hugging Face → |
“Needed” adds 1.2 GB of working memory for Illustrious / Pony and a 0.8 GB reserve. Sizes 2026-10-01. The 6.94 GB checkpoint holds the UNet plus text encoders and VAE; only the UNet (about 5.1 GB) sits in VRAM while sampling. The GGUF and FP8 files from calcuis contain the UNet only. FP8 and INT8 files are left out on a Mac: Apple GPUs cannot compute FP8, so ComfyUI either fails to load them or converts them back to 16-bit, which saves no memory. Use a 16-bit or GGUF file.
03The text encoder
The text encoder is inside the checkpoint, so there is nothing extra to download.
04Measured and reported results
Nobody has sent measured numbers for this pair yet. If you run Illustrious / Pony on a Mac 16 GB, send your time per image and peak VRAM and it will appear here, credited.
05About the Mac 16 GB
A Mac with 16 GB shares that memory between the CPU and the GPU. On current macOS the GPU may use about 12.7 GB of it by default (older macOS versions: about 11.5 GB); that is the figure used here. ComfyUI can go past it, but macOS then starts compressing and swapping memory and everything slows down. ComfyUI runs on Apple GPUs through PyTorch's MPS backend. 16-bit and GGUF files work; FP8 and INT8 files do not save memory on a Mac, so they are skipped. Speed is the catch: even the fastest Macs are several times slower per image than a desktop RTX card. Chips sold with 16 GB: M1, M1 Pro, M2, M2 Pro, M3, M4, M5, M6 (memory bandwidth 68.25–200 GB/s - the higher, the faster). Everything about Macs and local AI →
16 GB unified · ~12.7 GB for the GPU · 68.25–200 GB/s · Apple Silicon. Everything that runs on it →
06Questions
How much VRAM does Illustrious / Pony need?
Around 2.9 GB with the smallest file (Q2_K) and 5.5 GB with an 8-bit file (FP8). The full 16-bit file needs about 7.1 GB.
Which Illustrious / Pony file should I download for the Mac 16 GB?
16-bit (6.9 GB) from OnomaAIResearch/Illustrious-xl-early-release-v0.
FP8 or Q8_0 for Illustrious / Pony on the Mac 16 GB?
Q8_0 (2.7 GB). The Mac 16 GB has no FP8 maths, so FP8 (3.5 GB) only saves memory and is a step further from the original.
How much do I need to download for Illustrious / Pony on the Mac 16 GB?
6.9 GB: Illustrious-XL-v0.1.safetensors.