Home > CPU Comparison > Core i5 1235U or Apple M3: what's better?

Intel Core i5 1235U vs Apple M3

43 out of 100
Intel Core i5 1235U
VS
67 out of 100
Apple M3
Intel Core i5 1235U
Apple M3

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 1.3 GHz Intel Core i5 1235U with 10-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.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between M3 and 1235U
Advantages of Intel Core i5 1235U
  • Supports up to 64 GB DDR5-4800 RAM
  • Has 2 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple M3
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 10 nanometers
  • More powerful Apple M3 GPU integrated graphics: 3.5 vs 1.5 TFLOPS
  • Newer - released 1 year and 9 months later
  • 44% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3009 vs 2089 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Core i5 1235U
vs
Apple M3

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Core i5 1235U
98
Apple M3 +43%
140
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Core i5 1235U
368
Apple M3 +93%
712
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 400 -
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 1046 2341
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)
Core i5 1235U
2089
Apple M3 +44%
3009
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Core i5 1235U
6362
Apple M3 +86%
11815
File compression 448.4 MB/sec 1260 MB/sec
Clang compilation 24.1 Klines/sec 94.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 156 pages/sec 264.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 128.9 Mpixels/sec 313.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 206.3 pages/sec 297 pages/sec
Background blur 34.7 images/sec 50.2 images/sec
Photo processing 54.1 images/sec 114.8 images/sec
Ray tracing 10.5 Mpixels/sec 12.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 545 & 438 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Core i5 1235U
3043
Apple M3 +55%
4707
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Core i5 1235U
12404
Apple M3 +54%
19065
Integer math 47.4 GOps/sec 42.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math 37.4 GOps/sec 48.3 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 534M Primes/sec 231M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 16.6M Strings/sec 27.3M Strings/sec
Data encryption 9 GBytes/sec 11.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 143.4 MBytes/sec 225 MBytes/sec
Physics 649 Frames/sec 1867 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 7.9B Matrices/sec 10B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 8840 & 1563 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Core i5 1235U
80.33
Apple M3 +100%
160.35

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 24.5 PPW 35.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 424.1 PPW 590.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 826.9 PPW 953.3 PPW
Blender / Watt 5.36 PPW 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
Intel Core i5 1235U
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-15 (zoetje)Cinebench 2026400 / 1046
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-09 (Jubayer)Cinebench 202486 / 393
πŸ“˜ 2026-05-06 (TASIN AMIR)Geekbench 6 CPU2191 / 7204
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-08 -> samueltailsGeekbench 6 CPU2147 / 6050
πŸ“˜ 2025-01-13 (sauron269)Cinebench 202498 / 368
Add View all (5)
Apple M3
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-22 (doannguyenmfs)Geekbench 6 CPU2991 / 11735
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-16 (darkknightSup)Geekbench 6 CPU2990 / 11498
Add View all (2)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Intel Core i5 1235U and Apple M3

General

Vendor Intel Apple
Released February 23, 2022 October 30, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set x86-64 ARMv8
Codename Alder Lake Apple M3
Model number i5-1235U -
Integrated GPU Iris Xe Graphics (80EU) Apple M3 GPU
Successor - Intel Core Ultra 5 225U - Apple M5 (10-Core)
Intel CPU rating (#199th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 2 4
P-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (P) 1.3 GHz 4.05 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.4 GHz -
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 8 4
E-Threads 8 4
Base Frequency (E) 0.9 GHz 2.75 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) 3.3 GHz -
Total
Total Cores 10 8
Total Threads 12 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 13x 40x
L1 Cache 80K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 1280K (per core) 16MB (shared)
L3 Cache 12MB (shared) -
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 25 billions
Fabrication Process 10 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 12-15 W (configurable) 20 W
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) 55 W -
Socket BGA-1744 Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C 100Β°C

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80EU) Apple M3 GPU
GPU Base Clock 300 MHz 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1200 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 640 1280
TMUs 40 80
ROPs 20 40
Execution Units 80 160
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Core i5 1235U
1.5 TFLOPS
Apple M3 +133%
3.5 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M3 GPU (10-core) compared to Iris Xe Graphics G7 (80EU)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR5-4800
- DDR4-3200
- LPDDR5-5200
- LPDDR4x-4267		 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 64 GB 24 GB
Memory Channels 2 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth - 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

Official Site Intel Core i5 1235U official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 20 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
2 (8%)
23 (92%)
Total votes: 25

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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 or Intel Core i5 1235U?
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