Home > CPU Comparison > M5 Pro (18-Core) or M4 Max (14-Core): what's better?

Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs M4 Max (14-Core)

96 out of 100
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
VS
89 out of 100
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.61 GHz Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) with 18-cores against the 4.51 GHz M4 Max (14-Core) with 14-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.
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Key Differences

What are the key differences between (14-Core) and (18-Core)
Advantages of Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
  • Newer - released 1 year and 4 months later
  • Has 4 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5X-8533 RAM
  • More powerful Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core) integrated graphics: 12.9 vs 8.3 TFLOPS
  • Around 102.4 GB/s (33%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M5 Pro (18-Core)
vs
M4 Max (14-Core)

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 9144 -
Cinebench Scores (28th and 49th 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)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
File compression 2530 MB/sec 2360 MB/sec
Clang compilation 262.5 Klines/sec 191.8 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 738.1 pages/sec 604.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 744.9 Mpixels/sec 588.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 450.7 pages/sec 375.9 pages/sec
Background blur 100.3 images/sec 86.9 images/sec
Photo processing 250.8 images/sec 216.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 46.5 Mpixels/sec 30.7 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math 132.7 GOps/sec 84.2 GOps/sec
Floating point math 186.8 GOps/sec 85.8 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 486M Primes/sec 544M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 85.6M Strings/sec 55M Strings/sec
Data encryption 40.8 GBytes/sec 23.1 GBytes/sec
Data compression 697.9 MBytes/sec 491.5 MBytes/sec
Physics 5687 Frames/sec 5742 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 33.3B Matrices/sec 26.6B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 138 & 320 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 27.1 PPW 27.5 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 395.4 PPW 375.4 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 792.3 PPW 619.1 PPW
Blender / Watt 7.41 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 M5 Pro (18-Core)
No benchmark results yet
Add
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-06-28 (M4R7N)GeekBench3891 / 23147
📘 2025-05-02 (Joel)Cinebench 2024181 / 1702
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) and M4 Max (14-Core)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released March 3, 2026 October 30, 2024
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv9
Codename Apple M5 Apple M4
Model number T6050 -
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core)
Rival Equivalent - Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100) -
Successor - - Apple M5 Max (32-сore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 18 10
P-Threads 18 10
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 4.51 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores - 4
E-Threads - 4
Base Frequency (E) - 2.59 GHz
Total
Total Cores 18 14
Total Threads 18 14
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 46x 45x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 32MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 28 billions -
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 72 W 62 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Die Size 166.85 mm² -
Laptop processors ranking (3rd and 7th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Pro GPU (20-core) Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core)
GPU Base Clock - 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1578 MHz
Shading Units 2560 4096
TMUs 160 256
ROPs 80 128
Execution Units 320 512
TGP 28 W 51 W
iGPU FLOPS
M5 Pro (18-Core)
8.3 TFLOPS
M4 Max (14-Core) +55%
12.9 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core) compared to M5 Pro GPU (20-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - LPDDR5X-8533
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 16 32
Max. Memory Bandwidth 307.2 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
25 (73.5%)
9 (26.5%)
Total votes: 34

Competitors

1. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Intel Core i9 14900KS (1)
2. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M1 Max
3. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Intel Core i9 14900K
4. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
5. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M4 Pro (14-Core) (7)
6. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M2 Pro
7. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M1 Pro
8. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Intel Core Ultra X9 388H (1)
9. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 470 (1)
10. Apple M5 Pro (18-Core) vs Apple M1 Max
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M4 Max (14-Core) or M5 Pro (18-Core)?
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