Home > CPU Comparison > M3 Max or M1 Max: what's better?

Apple M3 Max vs M1 Max

83 out of 100
Apple M3 Max
VS
61 out of 100
Apple M1 Max
Apple M3 Max
Apple M1 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Max with 16-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

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
M3 Max
91
M1 Max
70
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
M3 Max
72
M1 Max
38
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
M3 Max
78
M1 Max
69
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
M3 Max
99
M1 Max
99
NanoReview Final Score
M3 Max
83
M1 Max
61
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and Max
Advantages of Apple M3 Max
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
  • Newer - released 2 years later
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • Has 6 more physical cores
  • More powerful Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) integrated graphics: 14.1 vs 10.6 TFLOPS
  • 33% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3227 vs 2431 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M3 Max
vs
M1 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M3 Max +28%
142
M1 Max
111
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M3 Max +115%
1698
M1 Max
789
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 5133 -
Cinebench Scores (#51st 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)
M3 Max +33%
3227
M1 Max
2431
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M3 Max +67%
21167
M1 Max
12673
File compression 2190 MB/sec 1450 MB/sec
Clang compilation 198.5 Klines/sec 105.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 557.3 pages/sec 329.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 648.9 Mpixels/sec 317 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 309.1 pages/sec 249.6 pages/sec
Background blur 68.9 images/sec 42.2 images/sec
Photo processing 183.5 images/sec 122.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 30.6 Mpixels/sec 14.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 678 & 447 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M3 Max +25%
4780
M1 Max
3831
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M3 Max +86%
41211
M1 Max
22162
Integer math 91.2 GOps/sec 46.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 131.5 GOps/sec 64.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 573M Primes/sec 278M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 61.7M Strings/sec 32.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 24.7 GBytes/sec 12.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 530.4 MBytes/sec 274.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 4332 Frames/sec 2833 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 24.2B Matrices/sec 12.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 409 & 2398 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M3 Max +103%
403.83
M1 Max
199.2

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 30.3 PPW 15.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 378 PPW 253.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 735.9 PPW 443.2 PPW
Blender / Watt 7.21 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 M3 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-09-27 (JayZeppelin)Cinebench 2024142 / 1698
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-04-27 (Guest #1)Cinebench 2024141 / 1459
Add View all (2)
Apple M1 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-07-04 (Daniel)Geekbench 6 CPU2459 / 13052
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 Max and M1 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2023 October 18, 2021
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv8
Codename Apple M3 Apple M1
Integrated GPU Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
Successor - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU) - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 12 8
P-Threads 12 8
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 3.2 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 2
E-Threads 4 2
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 16 10
Total Threads 16 10
Multiplier 40x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 24MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 92 billions 57 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 56 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC -
Laptop processors ranking (15th and 95th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 5120 4096
TMUs 320 256
ROPs 160 128
Execution Units 640 512
TGP 60 W -
iGPU FLOPS
M3 Max +33%
14.1 TFLOPS
M1 Max
10.6 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core) compared to M3 Max GPU (40-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 32 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
277 (73.1%)
102 (26.9%)
Total votes: 379

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

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Max or M3 Max?
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