Apple M3 Max vs A18 Pro (MacBook)
83
out of 100
VS
66
out of 100
We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 Max with 16-cores against the 2 GHz A18 Pro (MacBook) with 6-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.
Review
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
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
Key Differences
Advantages of Apple M3 Max
- Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
- Around 349.6 GB/s (583%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
- More powerful Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) integrated graphics: 14.1 vs 2.3 TFLOPS
- Has 10 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple A18 Pro (MacBook)
- Newer - released 10 months later
- 12% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3615 vs 3227 points
Test in Benchmarks
Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasksCinebench
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
| Cinebench 2026 (Multi) | 5133 | - |
Cinebench Scores (#51st place)
GeekBench v6
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
| File compression | 2190 MB/sec | 1050 MB/sec |
| Clang compilation | 198.5 Klines/sec | 58.1 Klines/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 557.3 pages/sec | 201.6 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 648.9 Mpixels/sec | 214.8 Mpixels/sec |
| Text processing | 309.1 pages/sec | 318.8 pages/sec |
| Background blur | 68.9 images/sec | 41 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 183.5 images/sec | 91.5 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 30.6 Mpixels/sec | 9.18 Mpixels/sec |
PassMark
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
| Integer math | 91.2 GOps/sec | 37.5 GOps/sec |
| Floating point math | 131.5 GOps/sec | 25.4 GOps/sec |
| Find prime numbers | 573M Primes/sec | 132M Primes/sec |
| Random string sorting | 61.7M Strings/sec | 17.2M Strings/sec |
| Data encryption | 24.7 GBytes/sec | 8 GBytes/sec |
| Data compression | 530.4 MBytes/sec | 133.5 MBytes/sec |
| Physics | 4332 Frames/sec | 1380 Frames/sec |
| Extended instructions | 24.2B Matrices/sec | 6.5B Matrices/sec |
Blender
Blender CPU
Performance Per Watt
| Cinebench 2024 / Watt | 30.3 PPW | 70.2 PPW |
| Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt | 378 PPW | 922.5 PPW |
| Passmark CPU Mark / Watt | 735.9 PPW | 1281.2 PPW |
| Blender / Watt | 7.21 PPW | 7.1 PPW |
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.
Recent User Tests
Apple M3 Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2024-09-27 (JayZeppelin) | Cinebench 2024 | 142 / 1698 |
| ๐ 2024-04-27 (Guest #1) | Cinebench 2024 | 141 / 1459 |
Apple A18 Pro (MacBook)
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| ๐ 2026-10-03 -> Rennsport | Geekbench 7 CPU | 3006 / 7807 |
| ๐ 2026-06-03 -> Rennsport | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3505 / 8840 |
| ๐ 2026-04-24 -> Rennsport | Geekbench 6 CPU | 3505 / 8840 |
Specifications
Full technical specification of Apple M3 Max and A18 Pro (MacBook)General
| Vendor | Apple | Apple |
| Released | October 30, 2023 | September 9, 2024 |
| Type | Laptop | Laptop |
| Instruction Set | ARMv8 | ARMv9 |
| Codename | Apple M3 | Apple M4 |
| Model number | - | APL1V07 |
| Integrated GPU | Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) | Apple A18 Pro GPU |
| Successor | - Apple M5 Max (40-ัore GPU) | - |
CPU
| P-Cores | 12 | 2 |
| P-Threads | 12 | 2 |
| Base Frequency (P) | 4.05 GHz | 2 GHz |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (P) | - | 4.05 GHz |
| E-Cores | 4 | 4 |
| E-Threads | 4 | 4 |
| Base Frequency (E) | 2.75 GHz | - |
| Turbo Boost Frequency (E) | - | 2.42 GHz |
| Total Cores | 16 | 6 |
| Total Threads | 16 | 6 |
| Multiplier | 40x | 40x |
| L1 Cache | 192K (per core) | 192K (per core) |
| L2 Cache | 32MB (shared) | 16MB (shared) |
| Unlocked Multiplier | No | No |
Package
| Transistors | 92 billions | - |
| Fabrication Process | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| TDP (PL1) | 56 W | 10 W |
| Socket | Apple M-Socket | Custom |
| Peak Temperature | 100ยฐC | - |
Laptop processors ranking (15th and 70th place)
iGPU
| Integrated Graphics | Apple M3 Max GPU (40-core) | Apple A18 Pro GPU |
| GPU Base Clock | 500 MHz | - |
| GPU Boost Clock | 1380 MHz | 1490 MHz |
| Shading Units | 5120 | 768 |
| TMUs | 320 | 40 |
| ROPs | 160 | - |
| Execution Units | 640 | 128 |
| TGP | 60 W | - |
iGPU FLOPS
Memory Support
| Memory Types | - LPDDR5-6400 | - LPDDR5x-7500 |
| Max. Memory Size | 128 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory Channels | 32 | 4 |
| Max. Memory Bandwidth | 409.6 GB/s | 60 GB/s |
| ECC Support | No | No |
Misc
| PCI Express Version | 4.0 | - |
Cast your vote
Total votes: < 1