Home / CPU Comparison / Apple M6 12 Cores or Intel Core i5-12400F: What's better?

Apple M6 12 Cores

vs

Intel Core i5-12400F

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M6 12 Cores and Intel Core i5-12400F processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Apple M6 12 Cores

More Total Cores: 12 (12 vs 6)
Higher Technology: 2 nm (2 nm vs Intel 7)
Newer Launch Date: August 2026 (August 2026 vs January 2022)

Intel Core i5-12400F

Higher Memory Type: Up to DDR5 4800 MT/s Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s (Unified memory vs Up to DDR5 4800 MT/s Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s)

Basic

Apple

Label Name

Intel

August 2026

Launch Date

January 2022

Laptop

Platform

Desktop

Apple M6

CPU Name

Apple M6 12 Cores

Model Name

i5-12400F

Code Name

Alder Lake

TSMC N2

Foundry

Generation

CPU Specifications

4.61 GHz

Performance-core Multi-Core Max Frequency

4.80 GHz

Super-core Max Frequency

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

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

Super-cores

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)

Yes

Max Turbo Frequency

4.40 GHz

Performance-core Base Frequency

2.50 GHz

3.20 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

4.40 GHz

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Yes

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Yes

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

2.0

L3 Cache

18 MB

Cache

18 MB Intel® Smart Cache

CPU Socket

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

FCLGA1700

Intel AES New Instructions

Yes

2 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.

Intel 7

TDP

65 W

Processor Base Power

65 W

Maximum Turbo Power

117 W

Max. Operating Temperature

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

100°C

PCI Express Version

PCI Express Revision is the supported version of the PCI Express standard. Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (or PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard for attaching hardware devices to a computer. The different PCI Express versions support different data rates.

5.0 and 4.0

Max Number of PCI Express Lanes

A PCI Express (PCIe) lane consists of two differential signaling pairs, one for receiving data, one for transmitting data, and is the basic unit of the PCIe bus. Max # of PCI Express Lanes is the total number of supported lanes.

Instruction Set

An instruction set architecture (ISA) defines the instructions a processor can execute. Common architectures include x86-64, ARM and RISC-V. The ISA determines software compatibility, while optional instruction extensions add specialized capabilities.

64-bit

Intel 64

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Yes

PCI Express Configurations

PCI Express (PCIe) Configurations describe the available PCIe lane configurations that can be used to link to PCIe devices.

Up to 1x16+4 | 2x8+4

Memory Specifications

Unified memory

Memory Type

Up to DDR5 4800 MT/s Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s

10667 MT/s

LPDDR5 Speed

32 GB

Max Memory Size

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

128 GB

Memory Channels

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

170 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).

76.8 GB/s

GPU Specifications

DisplayPort 1.4 over Thunderbolt 4; HDMI

External Display Standard

Apple M6 12-core GPU

GPU Name

Supported

Hardware-accelerated ray tracing

Up to 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz

Max External Display Resolution

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

Video Decode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Encode

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.

Discrete Graphics Card Required

Graphics Core Count

Up to 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz

Max Resolution

Number of Displays Supported

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

Media Engine

Video Decode Engines

Video Encode Engines

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

AI Specifications

Dual 16-core Neural Engine; Neural Accelerators in each GPU core

AI Engine

Intel Gaussian Neural Accelerator

3.0

Neural Engine Core Count

Dual 16-core Neural Engine

NPU Name

Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) on CPU

Yes

Interfaces and Ports

Thunderbolt 4

Thunderbolt Support

Supported

USB4 Support

Intel Volume Management Device (VMD)

Yes

Miscellaneous

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Intel® SSE4.1 | Intel® SSE4.2 | Intel® AVX2

Execute Disable Bit

Execute Disable Bit is a hardware-based security feature that can reduce exposure to viruses and malicious-code attacks and prevent harmful software from executing and propagating on the server or network.

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Yes

Intel Control-Flow Enforcement Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard

Yes