Intel Core i5-2520M vs Apple A11 Bionic

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i5-2520M CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple A11 Bionic
Intel Core i5-2520M Apple A11 Bionic

CPU comparison

Intel Core i5-2520M or Apple A11 Bionic - 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 Intel Core i5-2520M has 2 cores with 4 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.20 GHz. Up to 16 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Intel Core i5-2520M was released in Q1/2011.

The Apple A11 Bionic has 6 cores with 6 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.39 GHz. The CPU supports up to 3 GB of memory in 1 memory channels. The Apple A11 Bionic was released in Q3/2017.
Intel Core i5 (328) Family Apple A series (22)
Intel Core i 2000M (46) CPU group Apple A11 (1)
2 Generation 11
Sandy Bridge H Architecture A11
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple A10 Fusion
-- Successor Apple A12 Bionic

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i5-2520M has 2 CPU cores and can calculate 4 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Intel Core i5-2520M is 2.50 GHz (3.20 GHz) while the Apple A11 Bionic has 6 CPU cores and 6 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Apple A11 Bionic is at 2.39 GHz.

Intel Core i5-2520M Characteristic Apple A11 Bionic
2 Cores 6
4 Threads 6
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.50 GHz (3.20 GHz) A-Core 2.39 GHz
2x Monsoon
-- B-Core 1.19 GHz
4x Mistral

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

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. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Intel Core i5-2520M Characteristic Apple A11 Bionic
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 2 Neural cores @ 0.6 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The Intel Core i5-2520M or Apple A11 Bionic 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.

Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU Apple A11
0.65 GHz GPU frequency 1.07 GHz
1.30 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
6 GPU Generation 8
32 nm Technology 10 nm
2 Max. displays 1
12 Compute units 12
96 Shader 192
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory 3 GB
10.1 DirectX Version --

Hardware codec support

A 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.

Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU Apple A11
No Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode
No Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
No Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Intel Core i5-2520M can use up to 16 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 21.3 GB/s. The Apple A11 Bionic supports up to 3 GB of memory in 1 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 34.1 GB/s.

Intel Core i5-2520M Characteristic Apple A11 Bionic
DDR3-1333 Memory LPDDR4X-4266
16 GB Max. Memory 3 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 1 (Single Channel)
21.3 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 34.1 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 8.00 MB
3.00 MB L3 Cache --
2.0 PCIe version --
16 PCIe lanes --
8.0 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Intel Core i5-2520M is 35 W, while the Apple A11 Bionic has a TDP of 8 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Intel Core i5-2520M Characteristic Apple A11 Bionic
35 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 8 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Intel Core i5-2520M is manufactured in 32 nm and has 3.00 MB cache. The Apple A11 Bionic is manufactured in 10 nm and has a 8.00 MB cache.

Intel Core i5-2520M Characteristic Apple A11 Bionic
32 nm Technology 10 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX ISA extensions --
PPGA 988 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT Virtualization None
Yes AES-NI No
Windows 10, Linux Operating systems iOS
Q1/2011 Release date Q3/2017
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 3 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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
596 (64%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
932 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
1339 (52%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
2569 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
549 (50%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
1093 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
1162 (58%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
1997 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
Intel HD Graphics 3000 @ 1.30 GHz
250 (61%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
Apple A11 @ 1.07 GHz
409 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
2230 (51%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
4360 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
190 (100%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 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.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
491 (100%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
0 (0%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
295465 (100%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 3.20 GHz
248 (100%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
0 (0%)

CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)

The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
709 (100%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
0 (0%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

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).
Intel Core i5-2520M Intel Core i5-2520M
2C 4T @ 2.50 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple A11 Bionic Apple A11 Bionic
6C 6T @ 2.39 GHz
0.6 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i5-2520M Apple A11 Bionic
Unknown Apple iPhone 8
Apple iPhone 8 Plus
Apple iPhone X

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