Intel Core i7-1260P vs Apple M2 (8-GPU)

Last updated:

CPU comparison with benchmarks


Intel Core i7-1260P CPU1 vs CPU2 Apple M2 (8-GPU)
Intel Core i7-1260P Apple M2 (8-GPU)

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Intel Core i7-1260P and the Apple M2 (8-GPU) and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Intel Core i7-1260P 12 core processor released in Q1/2022 with the Apple M2 (8-GPU) which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q2/2022.
Intel Core i7 (298) Family Apple M series (23)
Intel Core i 1200P/1200U (21) CPU group Apple M2 (8)
12 Generation 2
Alder Lake U Architecture M2
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Apple M1
Intel Core i7-1360P Successor Apple M3 (8-GPU)

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Intel Core i7-1260P is a 12 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.10 GHz (4.70 GHz). The processor can compute 16 threads at the same time. The Apple M2 (8-GPU) clocks with 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz), has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Apple M2 (8-GPU)
12 Cores 8
16 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
Yes Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.10 GHz (4.70 GHz)
4x Golden Cove
A-Core 0.66 GHz (3.50 GHz)
4x Avalanche
1.50 GHz (3.40 GHz)
8x Gracemont
B-Core 0.60 GHz (2.42 GHz)
4x Blizzard

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 i7-1260P Characteristic Apple M2 (8-GPU)
-- AI hardware Apple Neural Engine
-- AI specifications 16 Neural cores @ 15.8 TOPS

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) GPU Apple M2 (8 Core)
0.40 GHz GPU frequency 0.45 GHz
1.40 GHz GPU (Turbo) 1.40 GHz
13 GPU Generation 2
10 nm Technology 5 nm
4 Max. displays 2
96 Compute units 128
768 Shader 1024
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
32 GB Max. GPU Memory 24 GB
12.1 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 Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) GPU Apple M2 (8 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 / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 64 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Intel Core i7-1260P, while the Apple M2 (8-GPU) supports a maximum of 24 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 102.4 GB/s enabled.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Apple M2 (8-GPU)
LPDDR5-5200, LPDDR4X-4266, DDR5-4800, DDR4-3200 Memory LPDDR5-6400
64 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
83.2 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s
No ECC No
9.00 MB L2 Cache 20.00 MB
18.00 MB L3 Cache --
4.0 PCIe version 4.0
28 PCIe lanes --
55.1 GB/s PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The Intel Core i7-1260P has a TDP of 28 W. The TDP of the Apple M2 (8-GPU) is 20 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Apple M2 (8-GPU)
28 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 20 W
64 W TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up 25 W
-- TDP down 10 W
100 °C Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Intel Core i7-1260P has 27.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 10 nm. The cache of Apple M2 (8-GPU) is at 20.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 5 nm.

Intel Core i7-1260P Characteristic Apple M2 (8-GPU)
10 nm Technology 5 nm
Monolithic Chip design Chiplet
x86-64 (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8.5-A (64 bit)
SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2 ISA extensions Rosetta 2 x86-Emulation
BGA 1744 Socket --
VT-x, VT-x EPT, VT-d Virtualization Apple Virtualization Framework
Yes AES-NI Yes
Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux Operating systems macOS, iPadOS
Q1/2022 Release date Q2/2022
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Intel Core i7-1260P to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.2 stars (22 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Apple M2 (8-GPU) to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 4.9 stars (47 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 4 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-1260P (83%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) (98%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 5 CPU benchmarks
Intel Core i7-1260P (86%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) (92%)

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.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
73 (61%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
120 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
300 (54%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
555 (100%)

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.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
1773 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1592 (90%)

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.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
11420 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
8558 (75%)

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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
1607 (86%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
1874 (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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
9088 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
8853 (97%)

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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
2151 (83%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
2596 (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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
7655 (76%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
10062 (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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
Intel Iris Xe Graphics 96 (Alder Lake) @ 1.40 GHz
2146 (76%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
Apple M2 (8 Core) @ 1.40 GHz
2840 (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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
17345 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
15472 (89%)

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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
612 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
4017 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Blender 2.81 (bmw27)

Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
277 (100%)

Cinebench R15 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 4.70 GHz
235 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R15 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 3.10 GHz
1778 (100%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Intel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
2.10 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8,558 CB R23 MC @ 20 W
428 (100%)

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 i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1260P
12C 16T @ 2.10 GHz
0 (0%)
Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M2 (8-GPU)
8C 8T @ 0.66 GHz
15.8 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Intel Core i7-1260P Apple M2 (8-GPU)
Unknown Apple MacBook Air 14 (2022)
Apple MacBook Pro 13 (2022)

News and articles for the Intel Core i7-1260P and the Apple M2 (8-GPU)

Most popular processors in the first half of 2022
Most popular processors in the first half of 2022
Posted by Stefan on 2022-07-05
In the past we had repeatedly written about our most popular processors. Since this format was quiet popular, I would like to continue this today and introduce you the most popular processors in the first half of 2022.

With more than 2 million page views per month, CPU-Monkey is one of the biggest comparison sites for processors and is currently available in 16 languages.
Apple M2 Pro with more CPU cores and production in 3 nm ?
Apple M2 Pro with more CPU cores and production in 3 nm ?
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-28
After Apple surprisingly presented the normal Apple M2 processor as the first successor to the Apple M1 already in June 2022, the Apple M2 Pro and the Apple M2 Max may follow in autumn. The difference in performance compared to the basic version could be even greater this time and range from 25 to 40 percent.

In this article we describe how Apple could realize this and why the price should also go up.
Apple M2 vs Apple M1 - What are the differences?
Apple M2 vs Apple M1 - What are the differences?
Posted by Stefan on 2022-06-09
During WWDC 2022 on June 6th, 2022 Apple surprisingly presented its new Apple M2 processor. This will initially be installed in a completely revised Apple MacBook Air with 13.6 inches, a even thinner form factor and new colors. Apple also updated the already known (old) Apple MacBook Pro 13.3 with touch bar.

Many leakers had counted on Apple not presenting its new second-generation M processor until the fall. But things turned out differently. And there is very likely a reason for that: the improvements in the Apple M2 are limited compared to the predecessor.

Popular comparisons containing this CPUs

1. Intel Core i7-1260PIntel Core i7-1255U Intel Core i7-1260P vs Intel Core i7-1255U
2. Intel Core i7-12700HIntel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-12700H vs Intel Core i7-1260P
3. Intel Core i7-1260PIntel Core i5-1240P Intel Core i7-1260P vs Intel Core i5-1240P
4. Intel Core i7-1260PIntel Core i7-1165G7 Intel Core i7-1260P vs Intel Core i7-1165G7
5. Intel Core i7-1360PIntel Core i7-1260P Intel Core i7-1360P vs Intel Core i7-1260P
6. Apple M3Apple M2 (8-GPU) Apple M3 vs Apple M2 (8-GPU)
7. Intel Core i7-1260PAMD Ryzen 7 6800U Intel Core i7-1260P vs AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
8. AMD Ryzen 7 5825UIntel Core i7-1260P AMD Ryzen 7 5825U vs Intel Core i7-1260P
9. Intel Core i7-1260PIntel Core i7-1280P Intel Core i7-1260P vs Intel Core i7-1280P
10. Apple M1Intel Core i7-1260P Apple M1 vs Intel Core i7-1260P


back to index