Home / CPU Comparison / Apple M3 Pro or Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX: What's better?

Apple M3 Pro

vs

Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M3 Pro and Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX

More Total Cores: 24 (12 vs 24)
Higher Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency: 5.5 GHz (4.06 GHz vs 5.5 GHz)
Larger L3 Cache: 24 MB shared (12 MB system level cache vs 24 MB shared)
Newer Launch Date: January 2025 (October 2023 vs January 2025)

Basic

Apple

Label Name

Intel

October 2023

Launch Date

January 2025

Laptop

Platform

Laptop

Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores

CPU Architecture

Apple M3 Pro

CPU Name

Apple M3 Pro

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

Core Ultra 9 285HX

Code Name

Arrow Lake

TSMC

Foundry

Intel

Apple M3 series

Generation

Ultra 9 (Arrow Lake)

CPU Specifications

Performance Cores

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

Performance-core Base Frequency

2.8 GHz

Efficient-core Base Frequency

2.1 GHz

2.75 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum E-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

4.6 GHz

NEON

Instruction Set Extensions

4.06 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum P-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

5.5 GHz

ARMv8-A, NEON

Extended Instruction Set

3 MB total L1 cache

L1 Cache

112 KB per core

20 MB L2 cache

L2 Cache

23 MB

12 MB system level cache

L3 Cache

24 MB shared

Bus Frequency

100 MHz

CPU Socket

The socket is the component that provides the mechanical and electrical connections between the processor and motherboard.

Intel Socket 1851

Multiplier

Unlocked Multiplier

3 nm

Technology

Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.

3 nm

TDP

17-55 W

Max. Operating Temperature

Junction Temperature is the maximum temperature allowed at the processor die.

100 °C

PCIe Version

PCI Express is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard used for connecting high-speed components, replacing older standards such as AGP, PCI, and PCI-X. It has gone through multiple revisions and improvements since its initial release. PCIe 1.0 was first introduced in 2002, and in order to meet the growing demand for higher bandwidth, subsequent versions have been released over time.

ARMv8-A

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

37 billion

Transistor Count

Memory Specifications

192-bit

Memory Bus Width

Unified LPDDR5-6400

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

DDR5-6400

LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

36 GB

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

256 GB

Memory Channels

The number of memory channels refers to the bandwidth operation for real world application.

150 GB/s

Max Memory Bandwidth

Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).

102.4 GB/s

6400 MT/s

Maximum Memory Speed

ECC Memory Support

Yes

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1

External Display Standard

Apple M3 Pro GPU

GPU Name

Up to two 6K 60Hz displays over Thunderbolt; or one 6K 60Hz display plus one 4K 144Hz display over HDMI; HDMI up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz

Max External Display Resolution

Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video; AV1 decode

Video Concurrency

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1 decode

Video Decode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Encode

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration and AV1 decode

Video Processing Unit

Integrated Graphics Model

An integrated GPU refers to the graphics core that is integrated into the CPU processor. Leveraging the processor's powerful computational capabilities and intelligent power efficiency management, it delivers outstanding graphics performance and a smooth application experience at a lower power consumption.

true

1296 MHz

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

2000 MHz

Graphics Core Count

Execution Units

The Execution Unit is the foundational building block of Intel’s graphics architecture. Execution Units are compute processors optimized for simultaneous Multi-Threading for high throughput compute power.

Up to 2 external displays

Number of Displays Supported

Metal, OpenCL

GPU APIs

Up to 4.6 TFLOPS FP32

Graphics Performance

Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, and AV1 decode

Media Engine

Video Decode Engines

Video Encode Engines

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

Yes