Intel Core i5 12500H vs Apple M2

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5 12500H with 12-cores against the 3.5 GHz Apple M2 with 8-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
Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of electricity consumption
NanoReview Final Score
Generic CPU rating

Key Differences

What are the key differences between M2 and 12500H
Advantages of Intel Core i5 12500H
  • Supports up to 64 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Has 4 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M2
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Newer - released 5-months later
  • 19% faster in a single-core Geekbench v5 test - 1925 vs 1622 points

Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs in benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
1701
1590
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
13329
8703
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Apple M2 +13%
4027
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
21834
15468
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Apple M2 +18%
1927
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
10301
8978
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Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 12500H and Apple M2

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released January 4, 2022 June 6, 2022
Type Laptop Laptop
instruction set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Alder Lake Apple M2
Model number i5-12500H -
Integrated GPU Iris Xe Graphics (80EU) Apple M2 GPU

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 4
P-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.5 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 4
E-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (E) 1.8 GHz 2.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.3 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 12 8
Total Threads 16 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 25x -
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 16MB (shared)
L3 Cache 18MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 20 billions
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm
Socket BGA-1744 Apple M-Socket
TDP 35-45 W (configurable) 15 W
Max. Boost TDP 95 W -
Peak temperature 100°C -

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80EU) Apple M2 GPU
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1300 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 640 1024
TMUs 40 64
ROPs 20 32
Execution Units 80 128
TGP 15 W 15 W
Max. Resolution - 6016x3384 - 60 Hz
iGPU FLOPS
1.41 TFLOPS
3 TFLOPS

Memory Support

Memory types DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200, LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4x-4267 LPDDR5-6400
Memory Size 64 GB 24 GB
Max. Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth - 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official site Intel Core i5 12500H official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 28 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
329 (59%)
229 (41%)
Total votes: 558

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 or Intel Core i5 12500H?
Avatar
Guest 21 January 2023 16:54
All I know is my iMac i5 hangs a lot on my illustration work when running effects and filters. It is slower than my older i7 iMac machine in some ways. I am planning to upgrade to an M2 Pro or Max when I can.
+1 Reply
Avatar
Berbelek 30 December 2022 20:04
Well, I can right now buy a laptop with i5 12500H for 30% of the price of a comparable laptop with M2.
+20 Reply
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DR apple 24 October 2022 18:38
Apple M2 is much better
+3 Reply
Avatar
Target 20 December 2022 05:36
But a lot of people can't afford.
+1 Reply
Avatar
Dr A Wahab Kosai 15 September 2022 13:09
I will choose M2. M2 uses the latest technology.
+19 Reply
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Yes I agree 08 November 2022 03:49
1000x times better than the i5 chipset. My i5 used to hang a lot but m2 has a flawless performance.
+3 Reply
Avatar
Guest 03 January 2023 13:28
Yes I agree, Bruh did you ever use i5 12500H? It outperformed ryzen 7 6800H :D
+23 Reply
Avatar
Kannan 20 January 2023 12:53
Guest, It even outperform i9 11900k on single core
+4 Reply
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