Apple’s processor confusopoly

Back in the old days it was easy to tell the difference between a newer, faster processor and an older, slower one. Everyone knew 486 was better than 386 (yeah, I’m showing my age) and the 120MHz was better than 66MHz. Intel kept it simple when it iterated through i3, i5, i7 and i9. But today, Apple has made things far more confusing. 

Apple has started releasing devices with the fourth version of its M-series chips. It’s not correct to call these processors as they are actually a collection of different types of processing cores on a single silicon wafer. For example, the newly announced M4 Max (in the new Mac Studio) boasts:

• 14 CPU cores
• 32 GPU cores
• 16 Neural Engine cores

And that’s a single chip that’s smaller than a single core CPU from back when I was a lad!

But here’s where it gets confusing for consumers. The new M3 Ultra is actually the more powerful chip. Apple is even calling it “the highest-performing chip it has ever created.”

• 28 CPU cores
• 60 GPU cores
• 32 Neural Engine cores

Logically, you could expect M4 to be more powerful than M3 which is more powerful than M2. But Apple processors come in four variants: 

• The regular version, such as the M4 that powers the new MacBook Air or Mac mini. 
• The Pro version we see in MacBook Pro
• The Max version, such as the M4 Max that we find in the Mac Studio or top-end MacBook Pro
• The, as yet, unannounced M4 Ultra that could arrive in an all new Mac Pro. 

So, within a chip family, such as the M4, the M4 Ultra will be the most powerful version followed by the M4 Max and then the ‘plain’ M4. But there’s a performance overlap between the M3 and M4 chip families. We say the same when the first M1 Ultra and M1 Max Mac Studios were released and boasted better performance than the M2 chips that were around.

In real terms, what we see is something like this:

Previous generation, but higher end chips, outperform more recent ‘entry level’ ships. This is why, in some benchmarks, the M2 Ultra powered Mac Studio outperformed the much newer M4 Mac mini. 

What does this mean when buying a new Mac?

Instead of looking simply at the chip name, you’ll need to look a little further at the number of CPU, GPU and Neural Engine cores the computer you’re looking at has. And, like any other purchase, do some research, set a budget and make the best decision you can with the available data. 

For example, in my case I purchased a Mac Studio as I was looking for a computer that I could rely on for about five years. That meant having enough memory and processing power to cover me for that time. I was less concerned about storage because Thunderbolt 4 (which has been superseded by Thunderbolt 5) would enable me to connect external storage if I needed more space. 

If I was making that decision today, the Mac mini would be very tempting. But when I look at benchmark numbers and the number of external ports I fall back to the Mac Studio as it’s the best fit for me. And the M4 chip is only one variable in the equation of which computer is best.

Apple has made it harder to solve that variable.