Local LLM Inference in 2026: The Complete Guide...

TL;DR: Ollama is the fastest path to running local LLMs (one command to install, one to run). The Mac Mini M4 Pro 48GB (~$1,999) is the best-value hardware. Q4_K_M is the sweet spot quantization for most users. Open-weight models like GLM-5, MiniMax M2, and Hermes 4 are impressively capable for a wide range of tasks. This guide covers 10 inference tools, every quantization format, hardware at every budget, and the builders making all of this possible. I've been setting up local inference on my o