Intel Core i9 12900HK vs Apple M2

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

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
Generic CPU rating

Key Differences

What are the key differences between M2 and 12900HK
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 – 5 versus 10 nanometers
  • Newer - released 5-months later
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Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks

Cinebench R23

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
1955
1582
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
18483
8743

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
2667
2594
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
11789
10094
File compression 584.3 MB/sec 1100 MB/sec
Clang compilation 135.7 Klines/sec 81.3 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 195 pages/sec 227.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 326.9 Mpixels/sec 280 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 285.3 pages/sec 261.3 pages/sec
Background blur 59.9 images/sec 41.4 images/sec
Photo processing 73.3 images/sec 95.9 images/sec
Ray tracing 30.4 Mpixels/sec 10.8 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2]

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Apple M2 +7%
3976
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
28151
15346
Integer math 97.9 GOps/sec 36.3 GOps/sec
Floating point math 69 GOps/sec 38.7 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 115M Primes/sec 183M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 36.3M Strings/sec 24.5M Strings/sec
Data encryption 19.2 GBytes/sec 9.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 323.1 MBytes/sec 190.6 MBytes/sec
Physics 1876 Frames/sec 1657 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 19.3B Matrices/sec 6.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4]

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i9 12900HK 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 i9-12900HK -
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 Yes No

Package

Transistors - 20 billions
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 35-45 W (configurable) 15 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 115 W -
Socket BGA-1744 Apple M-Socket
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 12900HK official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 28 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
28 (75.7%)
9 (24.3%)
Total votes: 37

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 or Intel Core i9 12900HK?
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