Apple this week introduced new MacBook Pros with M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max processors. The greatest interest was attracted by the M4 Max, which, according to the first tests, turned out to be the fastest among all laptop chips and outperformed many powerful desktop processors. In Geekbench 6 tests, the new processor showed outstanding results, confirming its leadership in the market.
Image source: Apple
Apple’s Mac mini with the M4 Pro chip has already proven itself to be the most powerful desktop Mac ever, but the M4 Max chip raises the bar even higher. To evaluate the performance of the Apple M4 Max, Geekbench 6 test results were used, which allows us to roughly estimate its capabilities before the new MacBook Pro appears in the hands of users. Geekbench remains a useful benchmark, although in real-world work environments results may vary depending on the type of task.
M4 is equipped with a 10-core processor with the world’s fastest computing core and a new generation neural engine
When comparing the M4 Max to previous Apple Silicon chips, there’s a noticeable improvement in its performance. Apple claimed that the new processor would be about 20% faster than the M3 Max and would be the fastest chip in a laptop. However, Geekbench tests showed even more impressive results: the single-core test for the Apple M4 Max showed 4060 points, and the multi-core test showed 26,675 points. By comparison, the M3 Max scored 21,097 in the multi-core test, making the M4 Max about 26% faster than its predecessor.
M4 Pro 14-core processor is up to 1.9 times faster than M1 Pro processor
The new M4 Max also surpasses the performance of the M2 Ultra, which was previously considered the most powerful chip in the Apple Silicon lineup. The M2 Ultra scored 21,471 in the multi-core test, which is about 24% lower than the M4 Max, even though the new chip is designed for laptops, while the M2 Ultra was used in Apple’s powerful Mac Studio and Mac Pro workstations.
M4 Max features a 16-core processor that is up to 2.2 times faster than the processor in M1 Max
To ensure the objectivity of the test results, the Apple M4 Max chip was also compared with leading personal computer (PC) processors such as the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X and Intel Core i9-14900K. In particular, the Ryzen 9 9950X scored 3,630 points in the single-core test and 26,653 in the multi-core test. As you can see, Apple’s new processor is slightly superior to Ryzen in both single-core and multi-core performance.
Improved media engine M4 Max features two video encoding engines and two ProRes accelerators
In turn, the Intel Core i9-14900K processor scored 3144 points in the single-core test and 23,044 points in the multi-core test. This puts the new Apple M4 Max chip up to 15% faster in performance than Intel’s most powerful desktop chip, further highlighting Apple’s significant advances in developing its own high-performance processors.
Additionally, Apple has yet to unveil the M4 Ultra chip, which is expected to have roughly double the performance of the Apple M4 Max thanks to UltraFusion technology, which allows two Max dies to be fused together with minimal loss. The M4 Ultra is expected to be available on Apple Mac Studio and Mac Pro around mid-2025, which is likely to raise the performance bar for Apple devices to new heights.