Home / CPU Comparison / Intel Core i7-12700 or Apple M3 Pro: What's better?

Intel Core i7-12700

vs

Apple M3 Pro

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Intel Core i7-12700 and Apple M3 Pro processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Intel Core i7-12700

Higher Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency: 4.80 GHz (4.80 GHz vs 4.06 GHz)
Larger L3 Cache: 25 MB (25 MB vs 12 MB system level cache)

Apple M3 Pro

Higher Technology: 3 nm (Intel 7 vs 3 nm)
Newer Launch Date: October 2023 (January 2022 vs October 2023)

Basic

Intel

Label Name

Apple

January 2022

Launch Date

October 2023

Desktop

Platform

Laptop

CPU Architecture

Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores

CPU Name

Apple M3 Pro

i7-12700

Model Name

Apple M3 Pro

Alder Lake

Code Name

Foundry

TSMC

Generation

Apple M3 series

CPU Specifications

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

Yes

Intel Virtualization Technology (VT-x)

Yes

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

4.90 GHz

Max Turbo Frequency

2.10 GHz

Performance-core Base Frequency

1.60 GHz

Efficient-core Base Frequency

3.60 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

2.75 GHz

Instruction Set Extensions

NEON

4.80 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

4.06 GHz

Yes

Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology

Extended Instruction Set

ARMv8-A, NEON

Yes

Intel Hyper-Threading Technology

Yes

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0

4.90 GHz

Intel Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0 Frequency

2.0

Intel Turbo Boost Technology

L1 Cache

3 MB total L1 cache

L2 Cache

20 MB L2 cache

25 MB

L3 Cache

12 MB system level cache

25 MB Intel® Smart Cache

Cache

FCLGA1700

CPU Socket

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

Yes

Intel AES New Instructions

Intel 7

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

65 W

TDP

65 W

Processor Base Power

180 W

Maximum Turbo Power

100°C

Max. Operating Temperature

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

5.0 and 4.0

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.

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.

64-bit

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.

ARMv8-A

Yes

Intel 64

Yes

Intel VT-x with Extended Page Tables (EPT)

Up to 1x16+4 | 2x8+4

PCI Express Configurations

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

Transistor Count

37 billion

Memory Specifications

Memory Bus Width

192-bit

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

Memory Type

Unified LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

LPDDR5-6400

128 GB

Max Memory Size

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

36 GB

Memory Channels

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

76.8 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).

150 GB/s

Maximum Memory Speed

6400 MT/s

Yes

ECC Memory Support

ECC Memory Supported indicates processor support for Error-Correcting Code memory. ECC memory is a type of system memory that can detect and correct common kinds of internal data corruption. Note that ECC memory support requires both processor and chipset support.

GPU Specifications

External Display Standard

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1

GPU Name

Apple M3 Pro GPU

Max External Display Resolution

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

Video Concurrency

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

Video Decode

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

Video Encode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Processing Unit

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration and AV1 decode

Intel® UHD Graphics 770

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.

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

1296 MHz

300 MHz

Graphics Base Frequency

Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.

Graphics Core Count

1.50 GHz

Graphics Frequency

DirectX Support

DirectX* Support indicates support for a specific version of Microsoft’s collection of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) for handling multimedia compute tasks.

Execution Units

7680 x 4320 @ 60Hz

Max Resolution (DP)

Max Resolution (DP) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the DP interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

5120 x 3200 @ 120Hz

Max Resolution (eDP - Integrated Flat Panel)

Max Resolution (Integrated Flat Panel) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor for a device with an integrated flat panel (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your device.

4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz

Max Resolution (HDMI)

Max Resolution (HDMI) is the maximum resolution supported by the processor via the HDMI interface (24bits per pixel & 60Hz). System or device display resolution is dependent on multiple system design factors; actual resolution may be lower on your system.

Number of Displays Supported

Up to 2 external displays

GPU APIs

Metal, OpenCL

Graphics Performance

Up to 4.6 TFLOPS FP32

eDP 1.4b | DP 1.4a | HDMI 2.1

Graphics Output

Graphics Output defines the interfaces available to communicate with display devices.

Media Engine

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

Yes

Intel Clear Video HD Technology

Video Decode Engines

Video Encode Engines

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

4.5

OpenGL Support

OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a cross-language, multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for rendering 2D and 3D vector graphics.

3.0

OpenCL Support

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.

Yes

Intel Quick Sync Video

AI Specifications

AI Engine

16-core Apple Neural Engine

3.0

Intel Gaussian Neural Accelerator

Neural Engine Core Count

NPU Name

Apple Neural Engine

NPU Performance

18 TOPS

Yes

Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) on CPU

Connectivity

Bluetooth Support

Yes

Bluetooth Version

Bluetooth 5.3

Wi-Fi Standard

Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)

Interfaces and Ports

Thunderbolt Support

Yes, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40 Gb/s

USB Version

USB4

USB4 Support

Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s

Yes

Intel Volume Management Device (VMD)

Miscellaneous

Hardware-Verified Secure Boot

Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust

Runtime Anti-Exploitation

Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions

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

Intel Standard Manageability (ISM)

Yes

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 Active Management Technology (AMT)

Yes

Intel Boot Guard

Yes

Intel Hardware Shield Eligibility

Yes

Intel Control-Flow Enforcement Technology

Yes

Intel OS Guard