Home > CPU Comparison > M4 Max (14-Core) or M2 Max: what's better?

Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs M2 Max

89 out of 100
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
VS
67 out of 100
Apple M2 Max
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
Apple M2 Max

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.51 GHz Apple M4 Max (14-Core) with 14-cores against the 3.5 GHz M2 Max with 12-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
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
DeviceFacts Final Score
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Key Differences

What are the key differences between Max and (14-Core)
Advantages of Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
  • Newer - released 1 year and 10 months later
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • 48% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3996 vs 2695 points
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5X-8533 RAM
  • Has 2 more physical cores

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M4 Max (14-Core)
vs
M2 Max

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M4 Max (14-Core) +48%
181
M2 Max
122
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M4 Max (14-Core) +67%
1702
M2 Max
1022
Cinebench Scores (50th and 148th place)
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
M4 Max (14-Core) +48%
3996
M2 Max
2695
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M4 Max (14-Core) +56%
23275
M2 Max
14891
File compression 2360 MB/sec 1690 MB/sec
Clang compilation 191.8 Klines/sec 131.8 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 604.5 pages/sec 368.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 588.1 Mpixels/sec 382.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 375.9 pages/sec 272.7 pages/sec
Background blur 86.9 images/sec 54.1 images/sec
Photo processing 216.8 images/sec 149.6 images/sec
Ray tracing 30.7 Mpixels/sec 17 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 693 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M4 Max (14-Core) +12%
4637
M2 Max
4136
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M4 Max (14-Core) +43%
38387
M2 Max
26843
Integer math 84.2 GOps/sec 57.7 GOps/sec
Floating point math 85.8 GOps/sec 73.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 544M Primes/sec 359M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 55M Strings/sec 41.1M Strings/sec
Data encryption 23.1 GBytes/sec 15.7 GBytes/sec
Data compression 491.5 MBytes/sec 335.2 MBytes/sec
Physics 5742 Frames/sec 3849 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 26.6B Matrices/sec 14.7B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 320 & 1034 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 27.5 PPW 20.4 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 375.4 PPW 297.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 619.1 PPW 536.9 PPW
Blender / Watt - 5.06 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2025-06-28 (M4R7N)Geekbench 6 CPU3891 / 23147
📘 2025-05-02 (Joel)Cinebench 2024181 / 1702
Add View all (2)
Apple M2 Max
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M4 Max (14-Core) and M2 Max

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2024 January 17, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M4 Apple M2
Model number T6041 -
Integrated GPU Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
Successor - Apple M5 Max (32-сore GPU) - Apple M5 Max (40-сore GPU)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 10 8
P-Threads 10 8
Base Frequency (P) 4.51 GHz 3.5 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.59 GHz 2.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 14 12
Total Threads 14 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 45x 35x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 32MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 67 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 62 W 50 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Laptop processors ranking (7th and 69th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core) Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 450 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1578 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 4096 4864
TMUs 256 304
ROPs 128 152
Execution Units 512 608
TGP 51 W 70 W
iGPU FLOPS
M4 Max (14-Core)
12.9 TFLOPS
M2 Max +5%
13.6 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) compared to M4 Max GPU (32-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-8533 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 96 GB
Memory Channels 24 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s 409.6 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version - 4.0

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
16 (57.1%)
12 (42.9%)
Total votes: 28

Competitors

1. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 (2)
2. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)
3. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
4. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M1 Max
5. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
6. Apple M2 Max vs Apple M4 Pro (12-Core)
7. Apple M2 Max vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
8. Apple M2 Max vs Apple M3 Pro
9. Apple M2 Max vs Apple M3 Max
10. Apple M2 Max vs Apple M4 Max (16-Core)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 Max or M4 Max (14-Core)?
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