Intel Core i9 12900H vs Apple M2

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i9 12900H with 14-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 12900H
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900H
  • Supports up to 64 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Has 6 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M2
  • More modern manufacturing process – 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Newer - released 5-months later

Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs in benchmarks
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
1899
1571
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
16583
8615
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Apple M2 +3%
3975
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
28751
15264
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Apple M2 +4%
1913
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
12657
8875
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Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900H 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 i9-12900H -
Integrated GPU Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) Apple M2 GPU

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 4
P-Threads 12 4
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 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) 3.8 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 14 8
Total Threads 20 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 25x -
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 16MB (shared)
L3 Cache 24MB (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 115 W -
Peak temperature 100°C -

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) Apple M2 GPU
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1450 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 768 1024
TMUs 48 64
ROPs 24 32
Execution Units 96 128
TGP 15 W 15 W
Max. Resolution - 6016x3384 - 60 Hz
iGPU FLOPS
1.69 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 i9 12900H official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 28 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
359 (63%)
211 (37%)
Total votes: 570

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 or Intel Core i9 12900H?
Avatar
undervolter 28 January 2023 01:37
No comparison. The apple CPU's come with so many strings attached for little to no performance or efficiency gains. They do look pretty but the flexibility of PCs is unbeatable. The added privacy issues of American corporations make it less of an option to consider the glass prison that is Apple.
+11 Reply
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