Apple M4 (10-CPU) vs Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
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CPU comparison with benchmarks
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| Apple M4 (10-CPU) | Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) | |
CPU comparisonApple M4 (10-CPU) or Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.
The Apple M4 (10-CPU) has 10 cores with 10 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.41 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Apple M4 (10-CPU) was released in Q2/2024. The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) has 12 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.50 GHz. The CPU supports up to 96 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) was released in Q1/2023. |
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| Apple M series (25) | Family | Apple M series (25) |
| Apple M4 (2) | CPU group | Apple M2 (8) |
| 4 | Generation | 2 |
| M4 | Architecture | M2 |
| Mobile | Segment | Mobile |
| Apple M3 | Predecessor | Apple M1 Max (24-GPU) |
| -- | Successor | Apple M3 Max (14-CPU 30-GPU) |
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CPU Cores and Base FrequencyThe Apple M4 (10-CPU) has 10 CPU cores and can calculate 10 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Apple M4 (10-CPU) is 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz) while the Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) has 12 CPU cores and 12 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) is at 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz). |
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| Apple M4 (10-CPU) | Characteristic | Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) |
| 10 | Cores | 12 |
| 10 | Threads | 12 |
| hybrid (big.LITTLE) | Core architecture | hybrid (big.LITTLE) |
| No | Hyperthreading | No |
| No | Overclocking ? | No |
| 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz) 4x P-Core |
A-Core | 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz) 8x Avalanche |
| 0.74 GHz (2.85 GHz) 6x E-Core |
B-Core | 0.60 GHz (2.42 GHz) 4x Blizzard |
NPU AI performanceThe performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. |
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| Apple M4 (10-CPU) | Characteristic | Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) |
| Apple Neural Engine | AI hardware | Apple Neural Engine |
| 16 Neural cores @ 38 TOPS | AI specifications | 16 Neural cores @ 15.8 TOPS |
| -- | NPU + CPU + iGPU | -- |
Integrated graphics (iGPU)The Apple M4 (10-CPU) or Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die. |
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| Apple M4 (10 Core) | GPU | Apple M2 Max (30 Core) |
| GPU frequency | 0.45 GHz | |
| -- | GPU (Turbo) | 1.40 GHz |
| -- | GPU Generation | 2 |
| 3 nm | Technology | 5 nm |
| 2 | Max. displays | 5 |
| 160 | Compute units | 480 |
| 1280 | Shader | 3840 |
| Yes | Hardware Raytracing | No |
| No | Frame Generation | No |
| 24 GB | Max. GPU Memory | 96 GB |
| -- | DirectX Version | -- |
Hardware codec supportA photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos. |
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| Apple M4 (10 Core) | GPU | Apple M2 Max (30 Core) |
| Decode / Encode | Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) | Decode / Encode |
| Decode / Encode | Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) | Decode / Encode |
| Decode / Encode | Codec h264 | Decode / Encode |
| Decode / Encode | Codec VP9 | Decode / Encode |
| Decode | Codec VP8 | Decode |
| Decode | Codec AV1 | No |
| Decode | Codec AVC | Decode |
| Decode | Codec VC-1 | Decode |
| Decode / Encode | Codec JPEG | Decode / Encode |
Memory & PCIeThe Apple M4 (10-CPU) can use up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 120.0 GB/s. The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) supports up to 96 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 409.6 GB/s. |
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| Apple M4 (10-CPU) | Characteristic | Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) |
| LPDDR5X-7500 | Memory | LPDDR5-6400 |
| 16 GB | Max. Memory | 96 GB |
| 2 (Dual Channel) | Memory channels | 4 (Quad Channel) |
| 120.0 GB/s | Max. Bandwidth | 409.6 GB/s |
| No | ECC | No |
| 22.00 MB | L2 Cache | 36.00 MB |
| -- | L3 Cache | -- |
| 4.0 | PCIe version | 4.0 |
| -- | PCIe lanes | 32 |
| -- | PCIe Bandwidth | 63.0 GB/s |
Thermal ManagementThe thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Apple M4 (10-CPU) is 22 W, while the Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) has a TDP of 45 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently. |
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| Apple M4 (10-CPU) | Characteristic | Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) |
| 22 W | TDP (PL1 / PBP) | 45 W |
| -- | TDP (PL2) | -- |
| -- | TDP up | -- |
| 15 W | TDP down | -- |
| 100 °C | Tjunction max. | 100 °C |
Technical detailsThe Apple M4 (10-CPU) is manufactured in 3 nm and has 22.00 MB cache. The Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) is manufactured in 5 nm and has a 36.00 MB cache. |
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| Apple M4 (10-CPU) | Characteristic | Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) |
| 3 nm | Technology | 5 nm |
| Chiplet | Chip design | Chiplet |
| Armv9-A (64 bit) | Instruction set (ISA) | Armv8.5-A (64 bit) |
| Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation, AVX2, SME | ISA extensions | Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation |
| -- | Socket | -- |
| Apple Virtualization Framework | Virtualization | Apple Virtualization Framework |
| Yes | AES-NI | Yes |
| macOS, iPadOS | Operating systems | macOS, iPadOS |
| Q2/2024 | Release date | Q1/2023 |
| -- | Release price | -- |
| show more data | show more data | |
10C 10T @ 0.70 GHz (4.41 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!
12C 12T @ 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz) buy now on Amazon and save!
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Rate these processors
Average performance in benchmarks
⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 4.41 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)
Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 0.70 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 4.41 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 0.70 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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AI performance (NPU)
The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is given here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher.
Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 0.70 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 0.66 GHz |
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Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 4.41 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)
The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 4.41 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 4.41 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 0.70 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)
The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
Apple M4 (10 Core) @ 0.00 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
Apple M2 Max (30 Core) @ 1.40 GHz |
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Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark
Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
10C 10T @ 0.70 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
12C 12T @ 3.50 GHz |
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CPU performance per watt (efficiency)
Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
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Apple M4 (10-CPU)
0.70 GHz |
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Apple M2 Max (30-GPU)
14,855 CB R23 MC @ 40 W |
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Devices using this processor |
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| Apple M4 (10-CPU) | Apple M2 Max (30-GPU) |
| Apple iPad Pro 11 (2024) [1-2 TB] | Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2023) |
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