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Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M4 Max: Comparison
Apple M3 Pro and Apple M4 Max separate most on l2 cache: Apple M3 Pro at 18 MB, Apple M4 Max at 40 MB, 55% in favour of Apple M4 Max. They match on 7 other specifications, including product line, form factor and market segment. In Blender Cycles (CPU) the Apple M4 Max scores 470 against 226 for the Apple M3 Pro, a lead of 52%.
Specs
| Specification |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Apple | Apple |
| Product Line | Other | Other |
| Form Factor | Laptop | Laptop |
| Model Number | M3 Pro | M4 Max |
| Core/Thread Count | 12 Core / 12 Thread (6 Performance + 6 Efficiency) | 16 Core / 16 Thread (12 Performance + 4 Efficiency) |
| Release Year | 2023 | 2024 |
| TDP | 30 W | 50 W |
| Market Segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Cache | 18MB L2 + 4MB L1 | 40MB L2 + 4MB L1 |
| Boost/Base Clock | 4.05 GHz / 2.75 GHz | 4.5 GHz / 2.9 GHz |
| Socket Status | End of Life | Current |
| Process Node | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| Performance Cores | 6 | 12 |
| Efficiency Cores | 6 | 4 |
| SMT Enabled | false | No |
| P-Core Boost Clock | 4.05 | 4.5 |
| L2 Cache | 18 MB-55% | 40 MB |
| Base Power | 30 W | 50 W |
| Memory Type | On-Package LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Max Memory Capacity | 36 | 128 |
| ECC Support | false | No |
| Integrated Graphics | Yes | Yes |
| Retail Availability | Soldered Only | Soldered Only |
| Series | Apple Silicon | Apple Silicon |
| CPU Process Node | 3 Nanometers | 3 Nanometers |
| Architecture | Apple Silicon, Third Generation | Apple Silicon, Fourth Generation |
| Cores | 12 | 16 |
| Threads | 12 | 16 |
Benchmarks
Measured results, not specifications. Percentages are the gap to the leading product in each test.
Blender Cycles (CPU)
Blender 4.5, Blender Open Data (CC0). Median of monster + junkshop + classroom, combined samples/min.
Blender renders 3D scenes by tracing light through them, which loads every core at once. The score measures sustained multi-core throughput, so a chip that wins here can still lose at gaming, where one or two fast cores matter more. Figures come from Blender's Open Data project, which places no restriction on reuse, and we publish the median of every submission for that chip on the same Blender version.