Apple launched the new MacBook Pro models with M4 chip earlier this week, and the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips really surprised us with their performance compared to older models and the competition. In a new comparison video, YouTuber Vadim Yuryev of Max Tech compares the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips to the Intel Ultra 9 285K and AMD Ryzen 9950X. It can be observed that Apple has managed to achieve a fantastic feat of engineering that delivers improved computing and graphics gains.
In early Geekbench 6 results, the M4 Pro chip performed exceptionally well, beating older processors from Apple. The SoC scored 3925 in single-core against the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which scored 3450, and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X with a score of 3359. It should be noted that both Intel and AMD chips are clocked at 5.7 GHz, while the M4 Pro chip is clocked at 4.5 GHz.
In terms of multi-core results, the 14-core M4 Pro chip also beats Apple's M2 Ultra chip with 22,669 points. Performance is slightly lower than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, which has a multi-core score of 23,024 points, while the Ryzen 9 9950X takes last place with a score of 20,183 points. The M4 Pro chip's massive performance gains over the competition are only evident in the numbers at this point, and real-world usage might be different. However, the fact that this level of performance exists on a 14-inch MacBook Pro is nothing short of surprising.
Besides the M4 Pro, Apple also announced the M4 Max chip, which features the same number of cores as the previous M3 Max chip, but with increased performance. The chip managed to cross the 4000 point mark in single-core benchmarks, which is barely better than the M4 Pro. We see that the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and the Ryzen 9 9950X are far from being up to the M4 Max chip. The speed of the M4 Max chip is the same as the M4 Pro, which is 4.51 GHz.
The multi-core results are also interesting, with the M4 Max chip securing a massive lead with 26,675 scores compared to 23,024 for Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and 20,550 for Ryzen 9 9950X. Also worth taking into account is that the Intel-based chip has a 24-core CPU, while the AMD CPU has 16 cores compared to 14 for the M4 Max chip. Apple has mentioned that its latest chips feature the world's fastest cores, but it remains to be seen how they perform in real-world use.
Graphics performance benchmarks show a different picture, since the M4 Pro chip with a 20-core GPU scored 111119 points, which is half as much as the M2 Ultra chip with a 72-core GPU. However, the M4 Max chip with a 40-core GPU brings a notable performance gain, with a score of 192532, which is 25% higher than the M3 Max chip with the same number of GPU cores. The performance is almost identical to the M2 Ultra chip with a 76-core GPU.
Apple has outdone itself this year with the M4 series of chips compared to the competition and its older computer chips. All that's missing is the future M4 Ultra chip to close the ball, in the next Mac Pro and Mac Studio next year.
