The Apple M1 Max is a System on a Chip (SoC) from Apple that is found in the late 2021 MacBook Pro 14 and 16-inch models. It offers all 10 cores available in the chip divided in eight performance cores (P-cores with 600 - 3220 MHz) and two power-efficiency cores (E-cores with 600 - 2064 MHz).

The M1 chip brings up to 16GB of superfast unified memory. This single pool of high‑bandwidth, low‑latency memory allows apps to share data between the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine efficiently - so everything you do is fast and fluid.

The M1 Max also debuted in the 14in and 16in MacBook Pro models in October 2021. The Max is also offered as an option in the Mac Studio, which arrived in March 2022. It includes the following: 10-core CPU (8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores)

The ‌M1‌ Max has a 10-core CPU that includes eight high performance cores and two high efficiency cores. According to Apple, the ‌M1‌ Max's 10-core CPU is up to 70 percent faster than the 8-core CPU in the original ‌M1‌ chip, which featured four high performance cores and four high efficiency cores.

The ‌M1‌ Max has the fastest video encoding and is 2x faster than the ‌M1 Pro‌, plus it has two ProRes accelerators. The new MacBook Pro with ‌M1‌ Max can transcode ProRes video up to 10x faster compared to the prior-generation 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple's M1 Max has the same CPU as the M1 Pro but adds more graphics power. The GPU is twice as big, and it offers twice the maximum memory with twice the memory bandwidth as the M1 Pro. Expect GPU performance roughly 2.5x that of the M2.

The Intel i7 is faster than the Apple M1, making it better suited for tasks that require a lot of processing power. However, the Apple M1 is more energy-efficient, meaning it will save you money on your energy bill.

What are the differences between the M1 and M2 chips? As you might have guessed, performance is the main difference between the M1 and M2 chips. For example, the M2 CPU is 18% faster than the M1, the GPU is 35% faster, and the neural engine is 40% faster. There are other improvements as well.

Our Verdict. Fast, with a razor-sharp screen, excellent build quality, and a happy reunion with MagSafe, HDMI and SD card readers, the 16in MacBook Pro with M1 Max is a high ranking professional computer.

The M1, for example, was available in a seven-core or eight-core GPU configuration. The M1 Pro has 14-core and 16-core GPU options, while the M1 Max has 24-core and 32-core variants. With the M1 Ultra, Apple has again doubled the graphical core count.

The M1 Max is said to be twice as fast again than the M1 Pro, making it four times faster than the M1 in its 32-core configuration. Benchmarks that have surfaced seem to agree that the extra cores and the improvements to Fabric improve the graphical performance, which makes sense.

Is the M1 Max worth it? For most people, no. Unless you plan to use the graphics capability of the M1 Max, it won't do you much good in your day-to-day work activities.

According to several other benchmarks, Intel's Alder Lake-P chips will outperform previous generations by over 30%. For example, the Core i7-12700H could be nearly 50% faster than Apple's M1 Max chip, and it also outperformed AMD's Ryzen 7 5700H processor.

The M1 has exceptional performance in tasks that are optimized for it, such as video and photo editing, while the i9 is generally better for more demanding tasks, such as gaming, or running demanding applications like AutoCAD or 3D rendering software.

M2 vs M1 Max The GPU is twice as big, and it offers twice the maximum memory with twice the memory bandwidth as the M1 Pro. Expect GPU performance roughly 2.5x that of the M2. The M1 Max has two media engines, giving it similar features but double the performance of the M1 Pro or M2.

Apple uses memory, which is designed to serve both large chunks of data and do it very quickly. It is called 'low latency and high throughput'. This removes the need to have two different types of memory and all the copying of data between them, making the M1 faster.