Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 12900H or Apple M2: what's better?

Intel Core i9 12900H vs Apple M2

55 out of 100
Intel Core i9 12900H
VS
57 out of 100
Apple M2
Intel Core i9 12900H
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.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (2)

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 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
  • More powerful Apple M2 GPU integrated graphics: 2.9 vs 2.2 TFLOPS
  • Newer - released 6 months later

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 12900H
vs
Apple M2

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Core i9 12900H
107
Apple M2 +17%
125
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i9 12900H +69%
984
Apple M2
582
Cinebench Scores (#157th 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)
Core i9 12900H
2397
Apple M2 +8%
2589
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900H +18%
11964
Apple M2
10122
File compression 898.1 MB/sec 1130 MB/sec
Clang compilation 97.6 Klines/sec 80.4 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 270 pages/sec 235.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 325.3 Mpixels/sec 266.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 248.3 pages/sec 257.4 pages/sec
Background blur 52.7 images/sec 42.1 images/sec
Photo processing 94.2 images/sec 107 images/sec
Ray tracing 23.8 Mpixels/sec 10.5 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 626 & 465 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 12900H
3644
Apple M2 +7%
3883
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900H +70%
26596
Apple M2
15651
Integer math 91.3 GOps/sec 37 GOps/sec
Floating point math 66 GOps/sec 37.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 104M Primes/sec 174M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 34.4M Strings/sec 23.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 18 GBytes/sec 9.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 308.2 MBytes/sec 185.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 1700 Frames/sec 1667 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 18.4B Matrices/sec 7.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 3998 & 4611 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 12900H +93%
210.35
Apple M2
109.19

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 21.9 PPW 32.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 265.9 PPW 562.3 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 591 PPW 869.5 PPW
Blender / Watt 4.67 PPW 6.07 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
Intel Core i9 12900H
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-21 (Robert L)Cinebench 2024104 / 765
πŸ“˜ 2025-05-02 (Toksik Vegeta)Cinebench 2024107 / 984
Add View all (2)
Apple M2
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-14 (T)Geekbench 6 CPU2647 / 10245
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-05 (AR)Geekbench 6 CPU2655 / 10211
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-24 (Shivam)Geekbench 6 CPU2619 / 9900
Add View all (3)

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
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS -
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 9 288V - Apple M5 (10-Core)
Intel CPU rating (#115th place)

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
TDP (PL1) 35-45 W (configurable) 18 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 115 W -
Socket BGA-1744 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C -
Laptop processors ranking (152nd and 133rd place)

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
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 12900H
2.2 TFLOPS
Apple M2 +32%
2.9 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M2 GPU (8-core) compared to Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96EU)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
- LPDDR5-5200
- LPDDR4x-4267		 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 24 GB
Memory Channels 2 8
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
505 (62%)
310 (38%)
Total votes: 815

Competitors

1. Apple M2 vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
2. Apple M2 vs Intel Core i7 12700H (2)
3. Apple M2 vs Apple M2 Pro (2)
4. Apple M2 vs Apple M3
5. Apple M2 vs Intel Core Ultra 7 155H
6. Apple M2 vs Intel Core i5 12500H (7)
7. Intel Core i9 12900H vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (4)
8. Intel Core i9 12900H vs Apple M2 Max (1)
9. Intel Core i9 12900H vs AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS
10. Intel Core i9 12900H vs AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS (1)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 or Intel Core i9 12900H?
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altviewpoint April 20, 2023 at 07:51 PM
I'm actively using computers with high-end Intel and Apple silicon. The benchmark data doesn't capture real-world use. Apple does have its drawbacks but has a history of protecting and advocating for user privacy. The M1 laptop I'm using SMOKES an older generation i9 in performance, even while running the same software through a VM. The i9 chews through batteries like crazy and gets wildly hot in the lap in use. The M1 machine gets warm and a charge goes much further. Hardly "little to no" efficiency gains. They're significant in my use case. Can't argue with criticisms of price, upgradeability, and repairability with Apple, though. There are still some good laptop manufacturers making laptops with upgradeable RAM. I hope that Intel or AMD will keep innovating and try some radically new architectures that bring their chips closer to the efficiency of the ARM stuff. I hope Apple will make their stuff more repairable, and at least make the desktops upgradeable. If price is a major factor in your purchase, then Intel is a no-brainer. If not, you should give the Apple silicon a try. You may be surprised. I was.
+27 Reply
Avatar
undervolter January 28, 2023 at 01:37 AM
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.
+42 Reply
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