Apple M1 vs Intel i9, this is always going to be a hot debate for people who are considering buying a new MacBook or for people in general. If one is looking forward to owning a new MacBook, there are two options:
13-inch MacBook Pro with Apple’s very own M1 chip.
16-inch model with Intel Core i9 processor (i9-9880H).
Apple M1 vs Intel i9 Specifications and an Overview
Let’s start with CPU comparisons with Benchmarks
We will be using Frequency, Turbo (1 Core), Turbo (All Cores), Cores, Hyperthreading, Overclocking, Core architecture.
| Specs | Apple M1 | Intel Core i9-9880H |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | 3.20 GHz | 2.30 GHz |
| Turbo (1 core) | 4.80 GHz | |
| Turbo (All core) | 3.40 GHz | |
| Cores | 8 | 8 |
| Hyper Threading | No | Yes |
| Overclocking | No | No |
| Core Architecture | Hybrid(big.little) | Normal |
Apple M1
The M1 chip at its heart has a 16-core Neural Engine. It has an 8 core CPU and is claimed to withdraw 1/4th of its power to deliver its peak performance. This also comes with 4 high-efficiency cores. Apple stated that the new chip focus on power efficiency. A test by Geekbench shows that MacBook Air with M1 chip, 8GB RAM and macOS 11.0.1 operating system outperforms the Intel Core i9-9880H processor which powers the 16inch. Apple’s M1 chips scored 1,687 on the single-core benchmark.
When being faired against the i9-9880H, M1 performs pretty well in the single-core tests excluding the Cinebench R20 (single-core) where the i9-9900K beat M1 by the score of 447 to 0.
Intel i9
When comparing the i9-9880H to M1 the i9 has a lower base frequency of 2.3GHz compared to M1 with 3.2 GHz. When talking about the processors in the MacBook Pro we do have to give the edge to the i9-9880H as you have the benefits of hyperthreading combined with better performance when using any application that uses multicores, i9-9880H stands superior.
Rumors about Apple M2 Chip?
Apple has been on a roll with its in-house chip designs, but that’s now set to change as rumors of the M2 have begun to circulate. There are few details about what we can expect from the new chipset, including blazing speed of application processing time and also more applications support. The 2019 release of Apple’s own chip design was a huge success: not only did it power up our favorite laptops (the MacBook Pro and Air) but also revolutionized the home computing experience with their desktop Mac.
Final Verdict: Apple M1 vs Intel i9
The i9-9880H doesn’t just comfortably beat out the M1 in nearly all of the Multicore tests, it manages to win a few single-core tests too. Like Cinebench R15 (single-core) in which i9-9880H beats out M1 by a score of 191 to 0. The M1 manages to steal a win from i9-9880H in Geekbench 5 (multicore) with a score of 7676 to 6114 and iGPU – FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS) with a score of 2600 to 461.
For those who do not know about all of the above tests let me give you another test result, I’m pretty confident you know this one. When comparing the i9-9880H to M1 on the Blender 2.81 (bmw27) which i9 wins by a score of 242.2 to 0.
For all those who are waiting to make a decision on which MacBook to take for all single-core uses, we suggest the MacBook Pro and Air powered by M1. For all the multicore users and Blender users or 3d design makers, you can clearly see that the MacBook Pro with i9 is superior. If you liked this article (or if it helped at all), please leave us a comment below or share it with friends, so they can understand the differences and make a choice depending upon their requirements. Follow HalfofThe for more updates on when the Apple M2 chip can be expected.
