Intel · Core Ultra 7 155H · Laptop
Best AI Models for Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop (16 GB)
Runs 9B models at 9 tok/s; 14B only just fits in 11 GB, and 27–31B doesn't fit.
| # | Model | Speed | llmrun Score | Quant · Memory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 18.3 t/s | 18.3 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 21.0 t/s | 21.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB | |
| 3 | Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 48.9 t/s | 48.9 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB | |
| 4 | Qwen3.5 2BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB · 33.8 t/s | 33.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB | |
| 5 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 17.4 t/s | 17.4 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB |
| # | Model | Speed | Reasoning Score | Quant · Memory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 21.0 t/s | 21.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB | |
| 2 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 18.3 t/s | 18.3 tok/s | overall | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB |
| 3 | Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 48.9 t/s | 48.9 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB | |
| 4 | Qwen3.5 2BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB · 33.8 t/s | 33.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB | |
| 5 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 17.4 t/s | 17.4 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB |
| # | Model | Speed | Long context Score | Quant · Memory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 18.3 t/s | 18.3 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Ling 3.0 TinyInclusion AI Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB · 48.9 t/s | 48.9 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.5 GB | |
| 3 | Qwen3.5 2BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB · 33.8 t/s | 33.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB | |
| 4 | Gemma 4 E2B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB · 17.4 t/s | 17.4 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.5 GB | |
| 5 | MiniCPM5 2BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB · 31.4 t/s | 31.4 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.5 GB |
| # | Model | Speed | Vision Score | Quant · Memory |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Qwen3.5 4BAlibabaHow to run → Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB · 18.3 t/s | 18.3 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 3.4 GB | |
| 2 | Gemma 3 4B ITGoogle Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB · 21.0 t/s | 21.0 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 5.0 GB | |
| 3 | Qwen3.5 2BAlibaba Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB · 33.8 t/s | 33.8 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.9 GB | |
| 4 | MiniCPM V 4.7 1BOpenBMB Q4_K_M · 1.6 GB · 46.7 t/s | 46.7 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 1.6 GB | |
| 5 | LFM3 Omni 2BLiquid AI Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB · 35.1 t/s | 35.1 tok/s | Q4_K_M · 2.4 GB |
The Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop is a 16 GB laptop with more memory than speed: it runs 9B models at 9 tok/s. The system keeps about 5 GB, leaving 11 GB for models. Prompt reading is its weak spot: a 4K-token prompt waits 23 s before the first word on Qwen3.5 4B. Core Ultra 7 155H, released 2023.
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop strengths and weaknesses
Strengths
- Low power draw: 28 W at full load for the whole machine
Weaknesses
- 27–31B models don't fit: Qwen3.8 27B needs 17.9 GB at Q4 vs 11 GB usable here
- Little room for context: Qwen3 14B uses 10.9 of 11 GB usable, 0.1 GB left
- Slow prompt reading: A 32K-token prompt on Qwen3.5 4B waits 3.1 min for the first token
- oneAPI, not CUDA: No FP8 or NVFP4 weights and no vLLM AWQ or GPTQ; use GGUF builds
Memory for models
11 GB of 16 GB27–31B models need 17.9 GB at Q4, more than the 11 GB available.Or rent an RTX 3090 (24 GB) from $0.18/hr →
The same chip from other makers first, then machines and GPUs people weigh against it, each with the one reason it is worth a look. Speeds on Qwen3.5 9B.
Output speed depends on memory bandwidth (120 GB/s). Grey rows need more than the 11 GB available.
- 9.4tok/s
- 7.0tok/s
- 27–31BQwen3.8 27B · not at 4-bitneeds 17.9 GB
- 35B MoEQwen3.6 35B A3B · not at 4-bitneeds 22.0 GB
- 70BLlama 3.3 70B Instruct · not at 4-bitneeds 51.3 GB
- 120B MoEGPT OSS 120B · not at 4-bitneeds 70.8 GB
Estimated speeds: Q4_K_M, 4K context, one user. How we estimate
Unified-memory platforms: writing vs compute
- M116 GB · 68.3 GB/s7.55
- M216 GB · 100 GB/s11.07
- Orin Nano8 GB · 102 GB/s10.417
- Orin NX16 GB · 102.4 GB/s10.515
- M316 GB · 102.4 GB/s11.37
- Core Ultra 7 155H16 GB · 119.5 GB/s9.49
Machines with about the same memory bandwidth write at about the same speed; compute decides how fast prompts are read. Speeds on Qwen3.5 9B.
All 267 models on the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop
Featured onlyBest quant that fits in 11 GB, ordered by llmrun Score. Fit grades how well it runs here, S best. How ranking works
| Model | Quant | VRAM | Speed | Context | Score | Fit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7BChatReasoningFunctions | Q4_K_M | 5.8 GB | 12.0 t/s | 131K | B51, Decent | |
Phi 4 Mini ReasoningChatMathCodeReasoningFunctions | Q4_K_M | 4.8 GB | 20.8 t/s | 131K | B61, Decent | |
Qwen2 VL 2B InstructVision | Q4_K_M | 2.1 GB | 35.6 t/s | 33K | A73, Runs well | |
GLM 4.1V 9B ThinkingVisionReasoning | Q4_K_M | 7.2 GB | 9.1 t/s | 66K | B47, Decent | |
Qwen2 VL 7B InstructVision | Q4_K_M | 6.2 GB | 11.1 t/s | 33K | B49, Decent | |
North Mini Code 1.0ChatCodeFunctions | IQ2_S | 10.7 GB | 35.9 t/s | 500K | B47, Decent | |
Vicuna 13B V1.3Chat | Q4_K_M | 8.6 GB | 7.0 t/s | 2K | C44, Usable | |
Starcoder2 3BChatCode | Q4_K_M | 2.6 GB | 27.4 t/s | 16K | A68, Runs well | |
Apriel 1.6 15B ThinkerVisionFunctions | Q3_K_S | 10.8 GB | 8.2 t/s | 262K | D17, Barely runs | |
Qwen2.5 Omni 7BChat | Q4_K_M | 9.9 GB | 8.4 t/s | — | C32, Usable | |
Holo4 35B A3BVisionFunctions | IQ2_XS | 11 GB | 35.3 t/s | 262K | C42, Usable | |
Hy MT2 30B A3BTranslationFunctions | IQ2_S | 10.5 GB | 35.2 t/s | 262K | B50, Decent | |
ClefVisionFunctions | IQ2_M | 10.4 GB | 6.0 t/s | 262K | D20, Barely runs | |
Granite 3.1 2B InstructChatFunctions | Q4_K_M | 3.2 GB | 30.0 t/s | 131K | A71, Runs well | |
DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 8BChatReasoningFunctions | Q4_K_M | 7.3 GB | 11.1 t/s | 131K | B49, Decent |
Specs
- Chip
- Core Ultra 7 155H · Intel Arc Graphics
- CPU cores
- 16
- GPU cores
- 8
- Unified memory
- 16 GB LPDDR5X-7467 (soldered, 128-bit) in most thin-and-light builds
- For models
- 11 GB (The system keeps 5 GB)
- Memory bandwidth
- 119.5 GB/s
- FP16 (dense)
- 9.2 TFLOPS
- NPU
- Intel AI Boost NPU (11 TOPS)
- Power
- 28 W max
- Released
- 2023-12-14
Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop FAQ
How much memory is available for AI on the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop?
About 11 GB of the 16 GB. The system keeps roughly 5 GB for itself and other apps.
What is the largest model the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop can run?
Phi 4 (14.7B) is the largest at 4-bit or better: at Q4_0 it uses 11.0 GB, 100% of the available memory, and runs at about 7.4 tok/s.
Can the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop run Qwen3.5 4B?
Yes. Qwen3.5 4B fits at Q4_K_M, using 3.4 GB of the 11 GB available, and it is the best model that runs well on this machine.
Can the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop run 27–31B models?
No. Qwen3.8 27B needs 17.9 GB at Q4, more than the 11 GB available.
How long does the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop take to read a long prompt?
On Qwen3.5 4B, about 23 s for a 4K-token prompt and 3.1 min for a 32K-token document before the first word appears.
Is renting a GPU cheaper than buying the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H (Meteor Lake) Laptop?
An RTX 3090 (24 GB) rents from $0.14/hr.