I recently bought into the Apple hype machine and purchased the 2021 M1 Max Macbook Pro (upgrading from an M1 Macbook Air). And while I love the laptop, is it actually more performant than non-Mac laptops out there?
What Laptops Compete With the M1 Max?
The M1 Max smokes most laptops currently on the market. Here’s a table of popular laptops with the best Intel & AMD processors available vs. the Macbook Pro M1 Max (in December 2021).
| Computer | Price | Single-Core GeekBench Score | Multi-Core GeekBench Score | Processor |
| 16″ Macbook Pro M1 Max | $3499 | 1749 | 11542 | M1 Max |
| ASUS ROG Strix Scar | $2,200 | 1101 | 4808 | AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 |
| Razer Blade 15 Advanced Gaming Laptop | $3,100 | 1239 | 5907 | Intel Core i7-10875H |
| Dell XPS 13 | $1700 | 1151 | 3555 | Intel Core i7-1185G7 |
Remember that each generation of processor that AMD and Intel releases gets dramatically faster. And that 11th gen Intel processors (codenamed Tiger Lake) and AMD’s Zen 3 processors (like the Ryzen 5900) were released in early 2021 and late 2020, respectively.
Meaning that the comparison table above will be utterly useless by Spring-Fall of 2022 when the next generation drops. We really need to examine Intel and AMD’s upcoming offerings to determine just how impressive the M1 Max actually is.
Intel Core i9 12900KF) 12th Generation, codenamed Alder Lake
Intel started selling their 12th gen CPUs in November 2021 (just in time for this article). These processors haven’t made their way to any laptops as of this writing. And while it’s certainly unfair to compare a maxed-out desktop chip to the M1 Max… Let’s do it anyway! I want to see how future-proof this chipset really is.
When I searched for the Intel Core i9 12900K in Geekbench 5, I got a single-core score of 1956 and a multi-core score of 17099 (The M1 Max was 1749, 11542).
That’s impressive, but remember that we’re comparing a power-hungry desktop chip to a laptop chip that runs on very little power. In all likelihood, a laptop using a lower-power version of this chipset is probably getting similar performance to the M1 Max vs. easily beating it.
That’s what Intel has to offer, onto AMD!
AMD’s Zen 4
AMD’s Zen 4 is the first of their 5nm product line and will likely have some high-speed multi-core performance. That said, its release isn’t expected until “sometime in 2022,” meaning it’s going to be a while before actual laptops are equipped with this chipset.
This means we can’t get actual Geekbench scores for this chipset yet. That said, I speculate that this chipset will be more performant than Intel’s Alder-Lake due to AMD’s 5nm design. But, that’s pure speculation.
Remember that we’ve already compared AMD’s Zen 3 processors above (AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX). Those exist, and the M1 Max absolutely smokes them (1749/11542 vs. 1101/4808). I don’t think the M1 Max’s lead will hold up when the Zen 4 is released, but we can’t say for sure until then.
Conclusion
Apple did it! They actually built a laptop that’s faster than the competition! Suppose you require a Mac for XCode development or work in Final Cut Pro (like me). In that case, you’re delighted Apple finally built a very high-performance device for you to work on!
That said, Intel and AMD next-gen processors are likely to catch up or surpass Apple shortly. Meaning this computer won’t be game-changing for very long. By mid-2022, I expect you’ll be able to find faster Windows laptops for less money.
And if we’re being honest, most of you don’t need this much machine. AMD’s Zen 3 and Intel’s 11th gen PCs are perfectly fast for most tasks that you’ll find yourself doing. These top-of-the-line PCs are primarily for people doing video editing, 3D modeling, programming, or hardcore gaming. Not checking emails.