Apple this week introduced a new technology of Mac Studio, and surprisingly it’s out there with two completely different chip households: M3 Extremely and M4 Max. Whereas the corporate claims that the M3 Extremely is as much as twice as quick because the M4 Max in some workloads, benchmark checks present that there isn’t an enormous distinction between the CPU of the 2 chips.
M3 Extremely just isn’t that a lot quicker than M4 Max relating to CPU
A current Geekbench 6 check run on the brand new Mac Studio outfitted with the high-end model of the M3 Extremely chip offers us an thought of what to anticipate from essentially the most highly effective chip ever designed by Apple. With a 32-core CPU, M3 Extremely scored 3221 in single-core and 27749 in multi-core. Whereas the numbers are spectacular, they’re not precisely a lot larger than the rating obtained by the M4 Max chip within the Geekbench check.
For comparability, the high-end model of the M4 Max chip with a 16-core CPU scored 3921 in single-core and 25650 in multi-core. Because of this the M4 Max has quicker CPU cores than the M3 Extremely, though the Extremely chip wins within the multi-core comparability by a distinction of simply 8%.
In fact, there’s lots to bear in mind relating to these checks. First, it’s price noting that the M3 collection of chips relies on the primary technology of the three nanometer structure (the identical because the A17 Professional chip) made by TSMC, which is much less environment friendly than the second technology launched with the M4 and A18 chips. That is in all probability why the M3 Extremely has a decrease single-core efficiency than the M4 Max.
Secondly, this check solely measures CPU efficiency. Whereas the M4 Max chip can solely be configured with a GPU of as much as 40 cores, the M3 Extremely is obtainable with a GPU of as much as 80 cores. It’s very probably that the distinction in efficiency can be huge relating to graphics-intensive duties. The M3 Extremely additionally has larger reminiscence bandwidth (800GB/s vs. 500GB/s).
Breaking: M3 Extremely benchmarks have leaked, confirming that it’s now the world’s FASTEST manufacturing CPU.
Scores are a bit low due to outdated M3 core tech and diminishing returns with extra cores, due to how the multi-core replace works with Geekbench 6. https://t.co/WWoSiQ7zWD
— Vadim Yuryev (@VadimYuryev) March 7, 2025
What does all this imply for patrons? Customers who want a quick laptop for duties that don’t rely so closely on the GPU should purchase the M4 Max Mac Studio (which begins at $1,999) and nonetheless get CPU efficiency just like that of the costlier M3 Extremely model, which begins at $3,999.
As for why Apple selected to launch an M3 Extremely chip as a substitute of the M4 Extremely, some imagine that Apple is saving the Extremely variant of the M4 collection for a brand new technology of the Mac Professional, to additional differentiate it from the Mac Studio.
The brand new Mac Studio is now out there for pre-order with the official launch set for March 12.
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