Vratislav Holub On the occasion of the currently ongoing CES 2022 fair, the giant Intel revealed the twelfth generation of Intel Core, which, among other things, contains an advanced mobile processor whose task is to beat the M1 Max. But does he even have a chance in this task? When we look at the technical specifications of the Intel Core i9-12900HK CPU, which is the company's current flagship in the field of mobile processors, we will be pleasantly surprised. Even so, there is a minor catch.
It could be interest you
Unquestionable performance, thus beating even the M1 Max
Since the arrival of the first Apple Silicon chip, pieces from Apple have often been compared to the competition and vice versa, which is nothing special. However, this whole discussion was stirred up at the end of last year, when the Cupertino giant launched a redesigned 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, which noticeably pushed the imaginary limits of performance several steps forward. For example, the state-of-the-art M1 Max even outperforms some Mac Pro configurations, while being significantly more efficient and not producing as much heat. And it is precisely in this that we can (again) see huge differences.
Macbook Pro (2021)
But let's say something about the Intel Core i9-12900HK processor. It is based on Intel's 7nm production process, which should be equivalent to the 5nm process from the giant TSMC, and offers a total of 14 cores. Six of them are powerful and the remaining eight economical, while their clock frequency can climb up to a great 5 GHz when Turbo Boost is active. When compared to Apple's most powerful chip, the M1 Max, Intel has a noticeable edge. This is because the apple piece offers "only" a 10-core CPU with a clock frequency of 3 GHz.
Performance and comfort
Unfortunately, in the notebook world, it has been true for years that higher performance does not necessarily bring comfort. This is precisely the stumbling block that Intel has been running into for a long time, and it is therefore facing various criticisms. Even apple growers know about it. For example, MacBooks from 2016 to 2020 offered processors from Intel, which unfortunately could not be cooled, which made their performance significantly lower than on paper. In any case, Apple is more to blame here for the design of laptops in general.
Even so, it is true that Intel goes the way of maximum possible performance, for which it wants to sacrifice everything else. For example in press release about the introduction of the new generation, we hardly find a single mention of how energy-intensive the Intel Core i9-12900HK actually is, while consumption is slowly becoming the most important attribute for the Cupertino giant with its Apple Silicon chips. This can also be noticed on apple keynotes. The company often mentions performance per watt or power per watt, in which Apple Silicon simply rolls. On Intel's website, p detailed specifications however, it turns out that the maximum consumption of the mentioned processor can go up to 115 W, while normally the CPU takes 45 W. And how is Apple doing? You will probably be surprised that the M1 Max chip takes a maximum of around 35 W.
It could be interest you
Is this a direct competitor to the M1 Max?
Now there is an interesting question. Is the new processor from Intel a direct competitor to the M1 Max? In terms of performance, it makes sense that we want to compare the best of both companies, but it's not quite a direct challenger. While the Intel Core i9-12900HK is aimed at professional and gaming laptops, which will have to have a solid cooling system, the M1 Max, on the other hand, is located in a relatively compact body and gives its user more comfort packed for travel.
Even so, we have to admit that in terms of performance, Intel probably wins hands down. But at what cost? In the end, however, we can be grateful for the arrival of this news, as it moves the entire mobile processor market forward. In the end, it is up to individuals to decide which laptop they will choose, when it will definitely come in handy to have the option to choose from several products. For example, in the field of gaming, the MacBook Pro with the M1 Max has no chance at all. Although it offers relatively enough performance, due to the absence of game titles on macOS, it is, with a bit of an exaggeration, an unusable device.
It was clear that Intel did not stop being able to make processors. It was held back by the production process, when 14nm simply had no chance against 7 or 5nm competitors. It is also clear that it will be more aggressive than the M1, so in the end the performance will not be higher, because the frequencies will be reduced and the 5GHz will not last long. Yes, and of course Intel could cool the MBP 16 or 13, but the cooling would have to be designed poorly. If the 16MBP from 2019 had the retro design that the new MBP has now, it would cool just fine.
Hilarious thought process... :D
It depends on how we look at it Intel once the path of high performance on the CPU, when we look at the M1, then the solution operation on the GPU is performed at a high speed.
That's why, for example, Adobe on the M1 goes so slow compared to the competition. I think that from a long-term point of view VR, games, video editing, I will not play on the CPU but rather on the GPU.
Have you ever tried working on a Mac with M1 in Adobe programs, or are you just a theorist. Because I use them every day and I can't say enough about it.
Not for mac games, but definitely for graphics. Moreover, no one wants a laptop that lasts four hours without a charger and makes noises on the table with the charger as if it wants to take off and fly away….
To Majo • 12/1/2022 10:45 a.m. Unfortunately, the Mac was only used for games because even the weaker RX5700 was sufficient for that. On the other hand, the GPU part even in the more powerful SoC Mx variant does not score much today. That is, if you don't compare it with office and multimedia GPUs, it's already creaky with the lowend gaming ones.
Which can be seen in 3D and not 2D graphics, or CAD, CAM, CAE... Yes, integrated Intel was enough for photoshop and illustrator xx years ago....
"Even so, we have to admit that in terms of performance, Intel probably wins hands down."
So we have to realize that Intel has just introduced the processors and they will reach the market only when Apple introduces other, more powerful variants (it will take a couple of months) and I don't have to have such a big head start on them. There are still more iMacs and Mac Pros waiting for us.
Exactly. Intel doesn't have a big lead, and M2 will definitely push it. And only the most inflated version is more powerful, which will only go into gaming machines and a few super-powered workstations with a battery life of 4 hours. But that doesn't change the fact that these are good chips. And we might not care anyway. Apple won't go back to Intel, so even if Intel made absolutely perfect processors, it doesn't concern us.
In the next few months, Apple will most likely not introduce more powerful processors (at least in macbooks), after all, it launched the macbook pro recently. The basic "M2" will come first, but logically they cannot have higher performance than those in the latest MacBook Pros.