Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) vs M1 Max

85 out of 100
Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
VS
61 out of 100
Apple M1 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.51 GHz Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) 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.

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 Max and (12-Core)
Advantages of Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
  • Newer - released 3 years later
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • 59% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3864 vs 2431 points
  • Has 2 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M1 Max
  • More powerful Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core) integrated graphics: 10.6 vs 6.5 TFLOPS
  • Around 136.6 GB/s (50%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
172
111
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
1421
789
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 5470 -
Cinebench Scores (#80th place)

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
3864
2431
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
20499
12673
File compression 2120 MB/sec 1450 MB/sec
Clang compilation 165.8 Klines/sec 105.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 484.7 pages/sec 329.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 486.8 Mpixels/sec 317 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 368.5 pages/sec 249.6 pages/sec
Background blur 84.2 images/sec 42.2 images/sec
Photo processing 189.3 images/sec 122.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 25.9 Mpixels/sec 14.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 447 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
4557
3831
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
32710
22162
Integer math 70.9 GOps/sec 46.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 71.5 GOps/sec 64.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 460M Primes/sec 278M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 46.4M Strings/sec 32.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 19.5 GBytes/sec 12.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 409.9 MBytes/sec 274.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 4875 Frames/sec 2833 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 21.8B Matrices/sec 12.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 661 & 2398 samples

Blender

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

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 37.4 PPW 15.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 539.4 PPW 253.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 860.8 PPW 443.2 PPW
Blender / Watt - 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 M4 Pro (12-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-07 (skibidigomgom)Cinebench 2024172 / 1421
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-21 (TommyYOyoyo)Geekbench 6 CPU4066 / 21270
πŸ“˜ 2025-04-16 (Infrra)Cinebench 2024169 / 1297
πŸ“˜ 2025-02-23 (Amandeep)Geekbench 6 CPU3911 / 20685
Apple M1 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-07-04 (Daniel)Geekbench 6 CPU2459 / 13052

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) and M1 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 29, 2024 October 18, 2021
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M4 Apple M1
Model number T6040 -
Integrated GPU Apple M4 Pro GPU (16-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
Successor - Apple M5 Pro (15-Core) - Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 8 8
P-Threads 8 8
Base Frequency (P) 4.51 GHz 3.2 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 2
E-Threads 4 2
Base Frequency (E) 2.59 GHz 2.1 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 10
Total Threads 12 10
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 45x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 24MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 57 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 38 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C -
Laptop processors ranking (13th and 95th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M4 Pro GPU (16-core) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1578 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 2048 4096
TMUs 128 256
ROPs 64 128
Execution Units 256 512
TGP 26 W -
iGPU FLOPS
6.5 TFLOPS
M1 Max +63%
10.6 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-8533 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 16 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 273 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Further details
Notes on M4 Pro (12-Core):
    - SoC is designed using ARMv9.2-A architecture.

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
145 (60.4%)
95 (39.6%)
Total votes: 240

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Max or M4 Pro (12-Core)?
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