Apple M4 Max (16-Core) vs M2 Max

93 out of 100
Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
VS
68 out of 100
Apple M2 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.51 GHz Apple M4 Max (16-Core) with 16-cores against the 3.5 GHz M2 Max with 12-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

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.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and (16-Core)
Advantages of Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
  • Newer - released 1 year and 10 months later
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • 48% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3986 vs 2695 points
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5X-8533 RAM
  • Around 136.4 GB/s (33%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More powerful Apple M4 Max GPU (40-core) integrated graphics: 16.2 vs 13.6 TFLOPS

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
187
122
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
2044
1022
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 6324 -
Cinebench Scores (23rd and 148th place)

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
3986
2695
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
26190
14891
File compression 2680 MB/sec 1690 MB/sec
Clang compilation 219.7 Klines/sec 131.8 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 699.3 pages/sec 368.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 771.1 Mpixels/sec 382.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 381.1 pages/sec 272.7 pages/sec
Background blur 92.2 images/sec 54.1 images/sec
Photo processing 236.2 images/sec 149.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 36.1 Mpixels/sec 17 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 693 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
4588
4136
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
43904
26843
Integer math 98.9 GOps/sec 57.7 GOps/sec
Floating point math 101.4 GOps/sec 73.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 627M Primes/sec 359M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 64.5M Strings/sec 41.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 27 GBytes/sec 15.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 572.9 MBytes/sec 335.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 6614 Frames/sec 3849 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 30.3B Matrices/sec 14.7B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 566 & 1034 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
475.2
253.11

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 29.2 PPW 20.4 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 374.1 PPW 297.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 627.2 PPW 536.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 6.79 PPW 5.06 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 M4 Max (16-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-07-20 (Rahul)Cinebench 2024177 / 1954
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-07-10 (thomas)Geekbench 6 CPU4094 / 26275
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-04-02 (BigJake)Cinebench 2024178 / 2001
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-02-17 (MM)Cinebench 2024173 / 1928
๐Ÿ“˜ 2024-11-12 (Jason C)Cinebench 2024177 / 2004
Apple M2 Max
No benchmark results yet

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M4 Max (16-Core) and M2 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2024 January 17, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M4 Apple M2
Model number T6041 -
Integrated GPU Apple M4 Max GPU (40-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-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) 4.51 GHz 3.5 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.59 GHz 2.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 16 12
Total Threads 16 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 45x 35x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 32MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 67 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 70 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 100ยฐC
Laptop processors ranking (6th and 64th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M4 Max GPU (40-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1578 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 5120 4864
TMUs 320 304
ROPs 160 152
Execution Units 640 608
TGP 50 W 70 W
iGPU FLOPS
16.2 TFLOPS
13.6 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-8533 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 96 GB
Memory Channels 32 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 546 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version - 4.0

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
56 (66.7%)
28 (33.3%)
Total votes: 84

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 Max or M4 Max (16-Core)?
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