I compared the M2 with several other CPUs (using cpubenchmark.net) that are in the same money-range and the M2 has a shockingly low score compared to other CPUs. For example, while the Apple M2 8 Core 3500 MHz scored 15416, the AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS scored 28917 and the Intel Core i7-13650HX 32119.
I don’t know how reliable these benchmarks are, but I wasn’t expecting M2 to be so bad. Am I missing something or? I wanted to buy a Macbook air M2 16GB 256GB, since I keep hearing how awesome it is, but now I’m not sure. Someone pls explain.
You must log in or # to comment.
No one cares about benchmark scores except geeks. I have the M2 Air 15” and it’s an amazing machine and higher performing and better quality than the much higher priced Dell laptop I use for work. Just get one.
Synthetic benchmarks absolutely do matter if winning otherwise irrelevant if losing.
How many cores do the comparisons have? What is the test testing? The Intel has 14 cores that’s almost double and runs at 4.9 GHz. Of course if it’s single core testing it doesn’t matter how many total cores.
However that being said it all depends on the tasks you want to do. Apple software is written to take advantage is apple silicon so it’s designed to work better on those CPUs.
Comparing to a windows CPU isn’t really valid in the end.
I don’t know why benchmarks matter to anyone anymore. No matter what AMD nor Intel have current processors that are better than Apple’s SoC’s in overall performance and efficiency. Sure a PC fanboy can come here and scream SPEED, but he’ll also be screaming SHORT BATTERY, HEAT, LOUD FANS. At this point today’s computers are super fast for just about every demanding task. What’s most important are long battery life on full performance, bright screens with minimal effects on battery, no fan noise and low heat. Nothing by AMD or Intel can match that.
I turned my work laptop onto full power mode using the Dell Optimizer app the other day, thought I’d see if it made a difference to how things worked. After 20 minutes I had to go back to low power mode as the noise of the fans were interfering with listening to my music. Pointless!
Well, when comparing CPUs it’s always worth looking at a range of benchmarks, not just one. But it’s true, the m2 is not the most powerful mobile CPU out there. It is, however, very power efficient in comparison with most other mobile CPUs and has the advantage of running an OS specifically optimised for it. So benchmarks alone do not tell the whole story.
You compare a base M2 with an i7 ? How so ? The real competitor would likely be M2 with i3/i5, M2pro with i5/i7 and M2max with i7/i9.
Talking about single or multicore bench ?
Talking about peak performance, or sustained ?
No matter what, during full throttle CPU benchmarking the iX will sound like a jet in takeoff, and give you 4-5hrs of battery life. The M2 will run all day on a charge, and quietly.
A typical benchmark will come out +/- on eye level.
Real life performance is night and day.
Not by price. M2 max laptop is double or triple price of most i7/i9 laptops. I believe he said similar price from the start
The base M2 is decent, but it’s far from the most powerful CPUs out there.
What is impressive about the M2 is how powerful it is for how little power it uses, which means less heat, which means thin and fanless computers that can run at full performance on batteries alone and survive a whole day… like your mobile phone.
This scales right up into the bigger M2 Pro and M2 Max, which are strong performers, but once again, in sleek and thin laptops, all the performance available on battery power, will last basically a whole work day.
The Apple M chips are ARM, like those that have been used in mobiles and tablets for many years. It’s a revolution in power-to-performance that has been decades in the making. What many people don’t know is that ARM at this calibre, this power design, is just getting started.
Consider it analogous to a Tesla. There are plenty of cars that can out-drag a Tesla, but nothing in the same class as one. You are looking at luxury sports cars, supercars with high maintenance engines, not daily commuters. But electric is only getting started and some people are building electric hypercars and racecars that are smashing all the records. Those hypercars and racecars of the ARM CPU world are coming, even if Apple is sticking to the consumer/Tesla market.
Lol this is what non-apple fan people have been saying all along. And you’ll see people defend Apple saying benchmarks dont matter.
Its all about trade offs - yes I’ve had windows laptops act weird - and Ive thougth MacOS has some quirks that I like better in Windows (Such as streaming/ Voiicemeter to control mic)
Overall - Apple laptops now with apple silicon are reliable devices with good battery life and decent performance on and off battery. Only windows laptops with AMD processors are decent off battery in my opinion - otherwise you trade off low battery life to maintain the performance with Intel CPU’s (from my 2 windows devices)
If you are plugged in and want raw performance and dont care about heat or fan noise - windows laptops win. + gaming is just built natively for it so it will always run better frame rates then MacOS.
and dont care about heat or fan noise
This is one of the big selling points for many people. I used to have an Alienware that was plenty powerful but made a ton of noise and pumped heat onto my legs like standing in front of a bonfire, that’s just not fun to use as a mobile product imo.
Yea on your laptop sometimes these heavy gaming laptops aren’t ideal.
Before m1 though my previous MacBooks got hot.
And one test with my m3 pro it did get hot and fans happened - think I was testing cyberpunk - and I thought damn burned my legs.
Windows laptops i never entertained idea of gaming on lap - or at least now I have a couch pad mini desk to do it.
My two cents to other readers
The M2 is the base model. The entry model. Why are you comparing it to much higher tiers in the intel front?
Peak? Sustained? You obviously don’t know how often Intel/AMD cpus throttle under load in laptops right?