Intel Core i9 12900HK vs Apple M2
55
out of 100
VS
57
out of 100
We compared two laptop CPUs: the 2.5 GHz Intel Core i9 12900HK 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
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
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
Key Differences
Advantages of Intel Core i9 12900HK
- Supports up to 64 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
- Unlocked multiplier
- Has 6 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M2
- More modern manufacturing process β 5 versus 10 nanometers
- More powerful Apple M2 GPU integrated graphics: 2.9 vs 2.2 TFLOPS
- Newer - released 5 months later
- 10% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 2589 vs 2361 points
Test in Benchmarks
Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasksCinebench
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench Scores (#153rd place)
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
| File compression | 1040 MB/sec | 1130 MB/sec |
| Clang compilation | 85.9 Klines/sec | 80.4 Klines/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 312.4 pages/sec | 235.3 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 363.1 Mpixels/sec | 266.1 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 225.4 pages/sec | 257.4 pages/sec |
| Background blur | 49.7 images/sec | 42.1 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 111.5 images/sec | 107 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 19.4 Mpixels/sec | 10.5 Mpixels/sec |
PassMark
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
| Integer math | 87.3 GOps/sec | 37 GOps/sec |
| Floating point math | 62.2 GOps/sec | 37.5 GOps/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 99M Primes/sec | 174M Primes/sec |
| Random string sorting | 32.2M Strings/sec | 23.7M Strings/sec |
| Data encryption | 17 GBytes/sec | 9.5 GBytes/sec |
| Data compression | 287.8 MBytes/sec | 185.8 MBytes/sec |
| Physics | 1609 Frames/sec | 1667 Frames/sec |
| Extended instructions | 17.2B Matrices/sec | 7.8B Matrices/sec |
Blender
Blender CPU
Performance Per Watt
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | 22.4 PPW | 32.3 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | 270.6 PPW | 562.3 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | 556.4 PPW | 869.5 PPW |
| Blender / Watt | 3.98 PPW | 6.07 PPW |
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.
Recent User Tests
Intel Core i9 12900HK
No benchmark results yet
Apple M2
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-03-14 (T) | GeekBench | 2647 / 10245 |
| π 2026-01-05 (AR) | GeekBench | 2655 / 10211 |
| π 2025-10-24 (Shivam) | GeekBench | 2619 / 9900 |
Specifications
Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900HK and Apple M2General
| 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 | i9-12900HK | - |
| Integrated GPU | Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) | Apple M2 GPU |
| Rival Equivalent | - AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX | - |
| Successor | - Intel Core i9 13900HK | - Apple M5 (10-Core) |
Intel CPU rating (#116th place)
CPU
| P-Cores | 6 | 4 |
| P-Threads | 12 | 4 |
| Base Frequency (P) | 2.5 GHz | 3.5 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (P) | 5 GHz | - |
| 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 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 | Yes | 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 (153rd 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
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 12900HK official page | - |
| PCI Express Version | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| PCI Express Lanes | 28 | - |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 43
Competitors
6.
Apple M2 vs Apple M2 Pro (2)