Apple announced M2 Max chip alongside the M2 Pro in January 2023. It is Apple’s most powerful system-on-a-chip (SoC) for its MacBook Pro laptops yet which is built on an advanced 5nm process and has 67 billion transistors, a 12-core CPU, up to 38-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine and supports up to 96GB of unified memory.
It offers up to 1.7x faster CPU performance than the M1 Pro and up to 3.7x faster GPU performance. It also offers up to 13x faster machine learning performance than the M1 Pro.
To check the detailed rundown of the M2 Max, YouTubers @Max Tech tested its performance and compared it to its rival Intel RTX 4090 used in an MSI GT77HX laptop. The Geekbench 5 results revealed that RTX 4090 destroyed M2 Max.
Benchmark scores of Apple M2 Max vs Intel 13th Gen i9 with Nvidia RTX 4090
Even though the M2 Max in MacBook Pro (2023) performs very well when it comes to productivity and content creation use cases and competes against the best of the best. However, with Nvidia’s improved GPU, the new RTX 4090 in MSI GT77HX also performs extremely well even in productivity and content creation.
Technical specifications of 16-inch M2 Max MacBook Pro
- Processor: Apple M2 Max with 10 CPU cores, up to 32 GPU cores, and 16 Neural Engine cores
- Display: 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with 3456 x 2234 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, ProMotion, True Tone, and wide color (P3)
- RAM: 32GB, 64GB, or 96GB of unified memory
- Storage: 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB SSD
- Battery: Up to 21 hours of video playback
- Weight: 4.8 lbs
Technical specifications of MSI GT77HX with 13th Gen i9/ Nvidia RTX 4090
- Processor: Intel Core i9-13980HX
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Laptop GPU
- Display: 17.3-inch UHD (3840×2160) MiniLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate
- RAM: 64GB DDR5
- Storage: 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
- Battery: 99.9Whr
- Weight: 7.3 lbs
Here are the complete test results of both machines are as follows. *Do keep in mind, the MSI GT77HX laptop is plugged into battery power, to get full performance, while the M2 Max MacBook Pro was unplugged.
Geekbench 5 CPU test
Max Tech first compared the single-core CPU power in M2 Max against the Intel 13th Gen i9 using Geekbench 5, and the 13th Gen i9 slightly the M1 Max chip.
In CPU benchmarks, the 13th Gen i9 scored 2,067, while the M2 Max chip scored 2,081. The 13th Gen i9 is half a percent higher than the M2 Max chip.
However, in the multi-core benchmarks, the Intel 13th Gen i9 is a 35 percent higher score, and that is impressive.
Geekbench 5 GPU test
In GPU benchmarks, RTX 4090 scored 254,831, while the M2 Max chip scored 86,092. Nvidia RTX 4090 completely destroyed Apple’s M2 Max chip’s GPU, which is no surprise.
Web browsing performance
In the web browsing test, the Intel 13th Gen i9 scored 369, while the M2 Max chip scored 434. Surprisingly M2 Max won by 18% even though the Intel 13th Gen i9 laptop was on battery.
Cinebench 23 and Thermals
In the Cinebench tests, right away the MSI 13th Gen i9 used 207.7W, while the M2 Max chip only used 36W. While the 13th Gen i9 used 207.7W but it stayed around 95°, while M2 Max reached 101°.
In Thermal camera tests, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop had around 39-40°, while M2 Max MacBook reached 40-42°. M2 Max MacBook had a slightly higher temperature but the fans were pretty quiet while the 13th Gen i9 laptop fans were kicking high and loud.
In the Cinebench results, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop scored 400 points per watt, while M2 Max MacBook scored 400 points per watt. And in the stress test, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop scored 27,573, while M2 Max MacBook scored 13,572. Since the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop uses way more power it has twice the performance.
3DMark Wild Life Gaming
In the gaming benchmarks, the RTX 4090 scored 259.5 fps, while the M2 Max chip scored 150.7 fps. The RTX 4090 had 70% higher fps than the M1 Max chip, completely destroyed again.
Blender 3D rendering
In the 3D rendering, the RTX 4090 took 5.4 seconds to render, while the M2 Max chip took 21.8 seconds to render. This is quite impressive how quickly the RTX 4090 rendered, and it is disappointing how long the M2 Max chip took to render.
When it comes to rendering RTX 4090 completely destroys the M2 Max chip. In another test with Partytug, the RTX 4090 took only 13 seconds to render, while the M2 Max chip took 1:04 seconds to render.
Lightroom photo editing
In photo editing, the MSI 13th Gen i9 was a bit slower when it came to response but it surely was faster in rendering. In the first rendering test, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop took 36 seconds to render, while M2 Max MacBook took 42 seconds to render.
In the second rendering test with more stress, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop took 2:53 seconds to render, while M2 Max MacBook took 3:58 seconds to render. Meaning the RTX 4090 inside the GT77HX laptop is a beast for rendering.
DR18 4K BRAW Denoise
In DR18 4K BRAW Denoise test, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop played back with smooth 24 fps, while the M2 Max MacBook Pro played back at around 13 fps. The MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop played back at perfect 24 fps and when going back it still ran smoothly without any glitches, WOW!
DR18 4K HEVC and DR18 6K BRAW video editing
In the DR18 4K HEVC video playback test, M2 Max MacBook had slightly better video playback than the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop. In 5 minutes video rendering test, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop took 59 seconds, while the M2 Max MacBook Pro took 45 seconds. And yes M2 Max chip is still ahead of Nvidia GPUs when it comes to rendering videos.
In the DR18 6K BRAW video rendering test, the MSI 13th Gen i9 laptop took 1:44 seconds, while the M2 Max MacBook Pro only took 55 seconds. Even though Nvidia has improved its GPUs for rendering but M2 Max is still the best when it comes to video rendering.
When it comes to gaming, 3D rendering the MSI GT77HX laptop completely destroys it, but when it comes to photo editing, video editing, and web tasks M2 Max MacBook does a killer job.
Check out the full video by Max Tech below:
Read more:
