Home > CPU Comparison > M4 Max (14-Core) or Apple M3: what's better?

Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M3

89 out of 100
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
VS
67 out of 100
Apple M3
Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
Apple M3

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.51 GHz Apple M4 Max (14-Core) with 14-cores against the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 with 8-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
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
๐Ÿ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between M3 and (14-Core)
Advantages of Apple M4 Max (14-Core)
  • Supports up to 128 GB LPDDR5X-8533 RAM
  • Around 307.2 GB/s (300%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More powerful Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core) integrated graphics: 12.9 vs 3.5 TFLOPS
  • Has 6 more physical cores
  • Newer - released 1 year later
  • 33% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3996 vs 3009 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M4 Max (14-Core)
vs
Apple M3

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M4 Max (14-Core) +29%
181
Apple M3
140
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M4 Max (14-Core) +139%
1702
Apple M3
712
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 2341
Cinebench Scores (#50th 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) +33%
3996
Apple M3
3009
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M4 Max (14-Core) +97%
23275
Apple M3
11815
File compression 2360 MB/sec 1260 MB/sec
Clang compilation 191.8 Klines/sec 94.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 604.5 pages/sec 264.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 588.1 Mpixels/sec 313.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 375.9 pages/sec 297 pages/sec
Background blur 86.9 images/sec 50.2 images/sec
Photo processing 216.8 images/sec 114.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 30.7 Mpixels/sec 12.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] โ€“ 438 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
M4 Max (14-Core)
4637
Apple M3 +2%
4707
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
M4 Max (14-Core) +101%
38387
Apple M3
19065
Integer math 84.2 GOps/sec 42.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 85.8 GOps/sec 48.3 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 544M Primes/sec 231M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 55M Strings/sec 27.3M Strings/sec
Data encryption 23.1 GBytes/sec 11.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 491.5 MBytes/sec 225 MBytes/sec
Physics 5742 Frames/sec 1867 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 26.6B Matrices/sec 10B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] โ€“ 320 & 1563 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 35.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 375.4 PPW 590.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 619.1 PPW 953.3 PPW
Blender / Watt - 8.02 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
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-06-28 (M4R7N)Geekbench 6 CPU3891 / 23147
๐Ÿ“˜ 2025-05-02 (Joel)Cinebench 2024181 / 1702
Add View all (2)
Apple M3
DateBenchmarkResult
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-08-22 (doannguyenmfs)Geekbench 6 CPU2991 / 11735
๐Ÿ“˜ 2026-06-16 (darkknightSup)Geekbench 6 CPU2990 / 11498
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M4 Max (14-Core) and Apple M3

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2024 October 30, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M4 Apple M3
Model number T6041 -
Integrated GPU Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core) Apple M3 GPU
Successor - Apple M5 Max (32-ัore GPU) - Apple M5 (10-Core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 10 4
P-Threads 10 4
Base Frequency (P) 4.51 GHz 4.05 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.59 GHz 2.75 GHz
Total
Total Cores 14 8
Total Threads 14 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 45x 40x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 32MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 25 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 62 W 20 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100ยฐC 100ยฐC
Laptop processors ranking (7th and 68th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M4 Max GPU (32-core) Apple M3 GPU
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1578 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 4096 1280
TMUs 256 80
ROPs 128 40
Execution Units 512 160
TGP 51 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
M4 Max (14-Core) +269%
12.9 TFLOPS
Apple M3
3.5 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M3 GPU (10-core) compared to M4 Max GPU (32-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-8533 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 24 GB
Memory Channels 24 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 409.6 GB/s 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version - 4.0

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
2 (100%)
0 (0%)
Total votes: 2

Competitors

1. Apple M3 vs Apple M2
2. Apple M3 vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (4)
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4. Apple M3 vs Apple M2 Pro
5. Apple M3 vs Apple M1
6. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Max (4)
7. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Intel Core i9 14900KS (1)
8. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M5 Pro (18-Core)
9. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M4 (10-Core)
10. Apple M4 Max (14-Core) vs Apple M5 Pro (15-Core)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 or M4 Max (14-Core)?
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