Home > CPU Comparison > M4 (10-Core) or M2 Max: what's better?

Apple M4 (10-Core) vs M2 Max

76 out of 100
Apple M4 (10-Core)
VS
68 out of 100
Apple M2 Max
Apple M4 (10-Core)
Apple M2 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.46 GHz Apple M4 (10-Core) with 10-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.

  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.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and (10-Core)
Advantages of Apple M4 (10-Core)
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1 year and 4 months later
  • 40% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3777 vs 2695 points
Advantages of Apple M2 Max
  • More powerful Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) integrated graphics: 13.6 vs 3.8 TFLOPS
  • Around 289.6 GB/s (241%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • Supports up to 96 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
  • Has 2 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M4 (10-Core)
vs
M2 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M4 (10-Core) +41%
172
M2 Max
122
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M4 (10-Core)
982
M2 Max +4%
1022
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 3211 -
Cinebench Scores (158th and 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)
M4 (10-Core) +40%
3777
M2 Max
2695
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M4 (10-Core)
14818
M2 Max
14891
File compression 1500 MB/sec 1690 MB/sec
Clang compilation 120.2 Klines/sec 131.8 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 329.3 pages/sec 368.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 362.1 Mpixels/sec 382.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 352.1 pages/sec 272.7 pages/sec
Background blur 69.8 images/sec 54.1 images/sec
Photo processing 114.4 images/sec 149.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 18.1 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)
M4 (10-Core) +9%
4499
M2 Max
4136
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M4 (10-Core)
23603
M2 Max +14%
26843
Integer math 54.2 GOps/sec 57.7 GOps/sec
Floating point math 49.6 GOps/sec 73.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 263M Primes/sec 359M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 34.3M Strings/sec 41.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 15.1 GBytes/sec 15.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 280.5 MBytes/sec 335.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 2527 Frames/sec 3849 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 13.6B Matrices/sec 14.7B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 2752 & 1034 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M4 (10-Core)
229.85
M2 Max +10%
253.11

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 40.9 PPW 20.4 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 617.4 PPW 297.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 983.5 PPW 536.9 PPW
Blender / Watt 9.58 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 (10-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-06-13 (doannguuyenmfs)Geekbench 6 CPU3703 / 15450
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-04-18 (Avacada)Geekbench 6 CPU3906 / 15577
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-03-05 (Dovlet)Geekbench 6 CPU3916 / 15202
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-31 (gmamorim)Geekbench 6 CPU3730 / 15258
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-12-28 (LC)Cinebench 2024174 / 993
Add View all (10)
Apple M2 Max
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M4 (10-Core) and M2 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released May 7, 2024 January 17, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M4 Apple M2
Model number APL1206 -
Integrated GPU Apple M4 GPU (10-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
Rival Equivalent - Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-84-100) -
Successor - Apple M5 (10-Core) - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 8
P-Threads 4 8
Base Frequency (P) 4.46 GHz 3.5 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 6 4
E-Threads 6 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.89 GHz 2.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 10 12
Total Threads 10 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 44x 35x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 16MB (shared) 32MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 28 billions 67 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 24 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 100ยฐC
Die Size 169.4 mmยฒ -
Laptop processors ranking (28th and 64th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M4 GPU (10-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1470 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 1280 4864
TMUs 80 304
ROPs 40 152
Execution Units 160 608
TGP 18 W 70 W
iGPU FLOPS
M4 (10-Core)
3.8 TFLOPS
M2 Max +258%
13.6 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) compared to M4 GPU (10-Core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-7500 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 32 GB 96 GB
Memory Channels 8 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 120 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version - 4.0
Further details
Notes on M4 (10-Core):
    - SoC is designed using ARMv9.4-A architecture.

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
101 (37.1%)
171 (62.9%)
Total votes: 272

Competitors

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6. Apple M4 (10-Core) vs Apple M6 (12-Core)
7. Apple M4 (10-Core) vs Apple M2 Pro
8. Apple M4 (10-Core) vs Apple A18 Pro (MacBook) (2)
9. Apple M4 (10-Core) vs Apple M3 Pro
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 Max or M4 (10-Core)?
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