Local Vision Models for a Computer With 16GB RAM
See which image-capable local AI models safely fit a computer with 16GB RAM.
Yes. A computer with 16GB RAM can run small local AI models. A safe first choice from the current MamiLens list is Qwen 3.5 4B. This is a memory-fit estimate, not a speed promise.
The device we checked
MamiLens keeps 5GB for the operating system and background work. That leaves a working model budget of about 11GB.
Best models to start with
Qwen 3.5 4B
Qwen 3.5 4B is a curated dense profile for general, coding, reasoning workloads.
- Calculated weights
- 3.4 GB
- Estimated total RAM
- 11 GB
- RAM left
- 5 GB
- Expected path
- CPU / RAM
- Speed
- Benchmark required
- Evidence
- Calculated estimate
ollama run qwen3.5:4bOpen evidence-labelled model profile →Gemma 3 4B
Gemma 3 4B is a curated dense profile for general, writing, reasoning workloads.
- Calculated weights
- 3.3 GB
- Estimated total RAM
- 11 GB
- RAM left
- 5 GB
- Expected path
- CPU / RAM
- Speed
- Benchmark required
- Evidence
- Calculated estimate
ollama run gemma3:4bOpen evidence-labelled model profile →Gemma 4 E4B QAT
Gemma 4 E4B QAT is a curated dense profile for general, writing, reasoning workloads.
- Calculated weights
- 6.1 GB
- Estimated total RAM
- 14 GB
- RAM left
- 2 GB
- Expected path
- CPU / RAM
- Speed
- Benchmark required
- Evidence
- Calculated estimate
ollama run gemma4:e4b-it-qatOpen evidence-labelled model profile →Qwen 2.5 VL 3B
Qwen 2.5 VL 3B is a curated dense profile for vision, general, research workloads.
- Calculated weights
- 2.2 GB
- Estimated total RAM
- 10 GB
- RAM left
- 6 GB
- Expected path
- CPU / RAM
- Speed
- Benchmark required
- Evidence
- Calculated estimate
ollama run qwen2.5vl:3bOpen evidence-labelled model profile →Qwen 2.5 VL 7B
Qwen 2.5 VL 7B is a curated dense profile for vision, general, research workloads.
- Calculated weights
- 6 GB
- Estimated total RAM
- 14 GB
- RAM left
- 2 GB
- Expected path
- CPU / RAM
- Speed
- Benchmark required
- Evidence
- Calculated estimate
ollama run qwen2.5vl:7bOpen evidence-labelled model profile →Recommended inference engine
LM Studio or Ollama
A CPU-first setup is the safest assumption when dedicated GPU support is unknown.
CPU use is practical for small models, but speed must be tested.How accurate is this result?
This page uses the same calculator rules as the live MamiLens tool. It includes model weights, runtime overhead, operating-system reserve, context reserve and simultaneous-user cache when selected. A displayed speed range is calculated from published memory bandwidth. It is not a benchmark from this exact computer.
Start with the first model. Test a normal task, record response speed and watch memory use before using it for important work.