Home > CPU Comparison > Core i9 12900HK or M1 Max: what's better?

Intel Core i9 12900HK vs Apple M1 Max

55 out of 100
Intel Core i9 12900HK
VS
61 out of 100
Apple M1 Max
Intel Core i9 12900HK
Apple M1 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i9 12900HK with 14-cores against the 3.2 GHz Apple M1 Max with 10-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 12900HK
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900HK
  • Unlocked multiplier
  • Has 4 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M1 Max
  • More powerful Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core) integrated graphics: 10.6 vs 2.2 TFLOPS
  • More modern manufacturing process โ€“ 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Supports quad-channel memory

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i9 12900HK
vs
M1 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Core i9 12900HK +3%
114
M1 Max
111
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i9 12900HK +28%
1007
M1 Max
789
Cinebench Scores (#153rd 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 12900HK
2361
M1 Max +3%
2431
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900HK
12179
M1 Max +4%
12673
File compression 1040 MB/sec 1450 MB/sec
Clang compilation 85.9 Klines/sec 105.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 312.4 pages/sec 329.2 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 363.1 Mpixels/sec 317 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 225.4 pages/sec 249.6 pages/sec
Background blur 49.7 images/sec 42.2 images/sec
Photo processing 111.5 images/sec 122.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 19.4 Mpixels/sec 14.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 1045 & 447 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i9 12900HK
3518
M1 Max +9%
3831
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i9 12900HK +13%
25038
M1 Max
22162
Integer math 87.3 GOps/sec 46.1 GOps/sec
Floating point math 62.2 GOps/sec 64.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 99M Primes/sec 278M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 32.2M Strings/sec 32.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 17 GBytes/sec 12.2 GBytes/sec
Data compression 287.8 MBytes/sec 274.4 MBytes/sec
Physics 1609 Frames/sec 2833 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 17.2B Matrices/sec 12.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 1240 & 2398 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i9 12900HK
179.19
M1 Max +11%
199.2

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 22.4 PPW 15.8 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 270.6 PPW 253.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 556.4 PPW 443.2 PPW
Blender / Watt 3.98 PPW 3.98 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 12900HK
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-09-25 -> op1Geekbench 6 CPU2627 / 14031
Add View all (1)
Apple M1 Max
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-07-04 (Daniel)Geekbench 6 CPU2459 / 13052
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900HK and Apple M1 Max

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released January 4, 2022 October 18, 2021
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Alder Lake Apple M1
Model number i9-12900HK -
Integrated GPU Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
Rival Equivalent - AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX -
Successor - Intel Core i9 13900HK - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU)
Intel CPU rating (#116th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 8
P-Threads 12 8
Base Frequency (P) 2.5 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 5 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 2
E-Threads 8 2
Base Frequency (E) 1.8 GHz 2.1 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.8 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 14 10
Total Threads 20 10
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 25x -
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 24MB (shared)
L3 Cache 24MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier Yes No

Package

Transistors - 57 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 35-45 W (configurable) 50 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 115 W -
Socket BGA-1744 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC -
Laptop processors ranking (153rd and 95th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) Apple M1 Max GPU (32-core)
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1450 MHz 1296 MHz
Shading Units 768 4096
TMUs 48 256
ROPs 24 128
Execution Units 96 512
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Core i9 12900HK
2.2 TFLOPS
M1 Max +382%
10.6 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M1 Max GPU (32-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 64 GB
Memory Channels 2 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth - 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i9 12900HK official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 -
PCI Express Lanes 28 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
209 (69.7%)
91 (30.3%)
Total votes: 300

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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M1 Max or Intel Core i9 12900HK?
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