Home > CPU Comparison > M3 Pro or Apple M3: what's better?

Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M3

73 out of 100
Apple M3 Pro
VS
67 out of 100
Apple M3
Apple M3 Pro
Apple M3

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Pro with 12-cores against the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 with 8-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
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between M3 and Pro
Advantages of Apple M3 Pro
  • More powerful Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) integrated graphics: 6.4 vs 3.5 TFLOPS
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • Supports up to 36 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
  • Around 51.2 GB/s (50%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M3 Pro
vs
Apple M3

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M3 Pro +2%
143
Apple M3
140
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M3 Pro +49%
1059
Apple M3
712
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 2341
Cinebench Scores (#139th 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 Pro +5%
3163
Apple M3
3009
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M3 Pro +31%
15512
Apple M3
11815
File compression 1560 MB/sec 1260 MB/sec
Clang compilation 132.6 Klines/sec 94.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 382.9 pages/sec 264.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 393.2 Mpixels/sec 313.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 301 pages/sec 297 pages/sec
Background blur 61.4 images/sec 50.2 images/sec
Photo processing 144.1 images/sec 114.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 19.7 Mpixels/sec 12.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 991 & 438 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M3 Pro
4247
Apple M3 +11%
4707
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M3 Pro +26%
24046
Apple M3
19065
Integer math 55.9 GOps/sec 42.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 64.8 GOps/sec 48.3 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 240M Primes/sec 231M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 35.2M Strings/sec 27.3M Strings/sec
Data encryption 14.4 GBytes/sec 11.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 288.5 MBytes/sec 225 MBytes/sec
Physics 2060 Frames/sec 1867 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 14.1B Matrices/sec 10B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 1204 & 1563 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M3 Pro +43%
228.7
Apple M3
160.35

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 35.3 PPW 35.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 517.1 PPW 590.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 801.5 PPW 953.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 7.62 PPW 8.02 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 Pro
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-25 (Kirich)GeekBench3198 / 14601
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-25 (Kirich)Cinebench 2024150 / 946
Add View all (2)
Apple M3
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-22 (doannguyenmfs)GeekBench2991 / 11735
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-16 (darkknightSup)GeekBench2990 / 11498
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 Pro and Apple M3

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2023 October 30, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv8
Codename Apple M3 Apple M3
Integrated GPU Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) Apple M3 GPU
Successor - Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) - Apple M5 (10-Core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 4
P-Threads 6 4
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 4.05 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 6 4
E-Threads 6 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz 2.75 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 8
Total Threads 12 8
Multiplier 40x 40x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 16MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 37 billions 25 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 30 W 20 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C
Laptop processors ranking (39th and 68th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) Apple M3 GPU
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 2304 1280
TMUs 144 80
ROPs 72 40
Execution Units 288 160
TGP 30 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
M3 Pro +83%
6.4 TFLOPS
Apple M3
3.5 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M3 GPU (10-core) compared to Pro GPU (18-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 36 GB 24 GB
Memory Channels 12 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 153.6 GB/s 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
202 (75.1%)
67 (24.9%)
Total votes: 269

Competitors

1. Apple M3 vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (4)
2. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Pro (16)
3. Apple M3 vs Apple M2
4. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Max (4)
5. Apple M3 vs Apple M1
6. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
7. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M1 Max
8. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M2 Max
9. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
10. Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M2 Pro
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 or M3 Pro?
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