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Apple M2 Max vs M1 Max

68 out of 100
Apple M2 Max
VS
61 out of 100
Apple M1 Max
Apple M2 Max
Apple M1 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 3.5 GHz Apple M2 Max with 12-cores against the 3.2 GHz M1 Max with 10-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (1)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
M2 Max
77
M1 Max
70
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
M2 Max
47
M1 Max
38
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
M2 Max
75
M1 Max
69
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
M2 Max
99
M1 Max
99
NanoReview Final Score
M2 Max
68
M1 Max
61
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
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Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and Max
Advantages of Apple M2 Max
  • Supports up to 96 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
  • Newer - released 1 year and 3 months later
  • More powerful Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) integrated graphics: 13.6 vs 10.6 TFLOPS
  • Has 2 more physical cores
  • 11% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2695 vs 2431 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M2 Max
vs
M1 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M2 Max +10%
122
M1 Max
111
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M2 Max +30%
1022
M1 Max
789
Cinebench Scores (#148th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
M2 Max +11%
2695
M1 Max
2431
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M2 Max +18%
14891
M1 Max
12673
File compression 1690 MB/sec 1450 MB/sec
Clang compilation 131.8 Klines/sec 105.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 368.6 pages/sec 329.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 382.1 Mpixels/sec 317 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 272.7 pages/sec 249.6 pages/sec
Background blur 54.1 images/sec 42.2 images/sec
Photo processing 149.6 images/sec 122.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 17 Mpixels/sec 14.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 693 & 447 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M2 Max +8%
4136
M1 Max
3831
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M2 Max +21%
26843
M1 Max
22162
Integer math 57.7 GOps/sec 46.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 73.4 GOps/sec 64.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 359M Primes/sec 278M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 41.1M Strings/sec 32.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 15.7 GBytes/sec 12.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 335.2 MBytes/sec 274.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 3849 Frames/sec 2833 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 14.7B Matrices/sec 12.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 1034 & 2398 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M2 Max +27%
253.11
M1 Max
199.2

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 20.4 PPW 15.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 297.8 PPW 253.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 536.9 PPW 443.2 PPW
Blender / Watt 5.06 PPW 3.98 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M2 Max
No benchmark results yet
Add
Apple M1 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-07-04 (Daniel)Geekbench 6 CPU2459 / 13052
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M2 Max and M1 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released January 17, 2023 October 18, 2021
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv8
Codename Apple M2 Apple M1
Integrated GPU Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
Successor - Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU) - Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 8
P-Threads 8 8
Base Frequency (P) 3.5 GHz 3.2 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 2
E-Threads 4 2
Base Frequency (E) 2.4 GHz 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 10
Total Threads 12 10
Multiplier 35x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 24MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 67 billions 57 billions
Fabrication Process 5 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 50 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C -
Laptop processors ranking (64th and 95th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
GPU Base Clock 450 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1398 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 4864 4096
TMUs 304 256
ROPs 152 128
Execution Units 608 512
TGP 70 W -
iGPU FLOPS
M2 Max +28%
13.6 TFLOPS
M1 Max
10.6 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core) compared to M2 Max GPU (38-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 96 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 4 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version 4.0 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
274 (69%)
123 (31%)
Total votes: 397

Competitors

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2. Apple M2 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
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5. Apple M2 Max vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
6. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M3 (4)
7. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
8. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (13)
9. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
10. Apple M1 Max vs Apple M2 Pro
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Max or M2 Max?
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Yes April 16, 2024 at 05:21 PM
You can find an Apple M1 Max Mac Studio on eBay for around $1200-1300 (used,) while the M2 Max Mac Studio sits at around $1600, and $2000 new. The M2 Max is better for pure performance, but the M1 Max takes the crown for pure value.
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