# 🔗 Autoresearching Apple's "LLM in a Flash" to run Qwen 397B locally

- Author: @gurupanguji
- Date: 2026-04-02
- URL: https://gurupanguji.com/blog/2026/04/02/llm-in-a-flash/
- Categories: link, ai
- Tags: ai, llm, models, apple

---


> Update: Dan's latest version upgrades to 4-bit quantization of the experts (209GB on disk, 4.36 tokens/second) after finding that the 2-bit version broke tool calling while 4-bit handles that well.

*Source:* [Autoresearching Apple's "LLM in a Flash" to run Qwen 397B locally](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Mar/18/llm-in-a-flash/)

I love these projects. I think the hardware is getting good. I am excited for this project to get better and allow us to run local models. 

However, $2600 for a 48GB Macbook Pro gives you access to the best models available on the cloud for 10 years at ~ $200 / year for the mid-tier plans. 

I know it's "local and private." However, as it stands right now, I am not sure I will make the trade off for "private, fast and latest."