Home / CPU Comparison / Apple M2 Pro or Apple M3 Pro: What's better?

Apple M2 Pro

vs

Apple M3 Pro

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M2 Pro and Apple M3 Pro processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Apple M2 Pro

Larger L3 Cache: 24 MB system level cache (24 MB system level cache vs 12 MB system level cache)

Apple M3 Pro

Higher Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency: 4.06 GHz (3.504 GHz vs 4.06 GHz)
Higher Technology: 3 nm (5 nm vs 3 nm)
Newer Launch Date: October 2023 (January 2023 vs October 2023)

Basic

Apple

Label Name

Apple

January 2023

Launch Date

October 2023

Laptop

Platform

Laptop

Apple Avalanche + Apple Blizzard

CPU Architecture

Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores

Apple M2 Pro

CPU Name

Apple M3 Pro

Apple M2 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.

Apple M3 Pro

TSMC

Foundry

TSMC

Apple M2 series

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

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

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

2.424 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

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

2.75 GHz

NEON

Instruction Set Extensions

NEON

3.504 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

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

4.06 GHz

ARMv8-A, NEON

Extended Instruction Set

ARMv8-A, NEON

P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core

L1 Cache

3 MB total L1 cache

P-core cluster: 36 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB

L2 Cache

20 MB L2 cache

24 MB system level cache

L3 Cache

12 MB system level cache

5 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

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.

ARMv8-A

40 billion

Transistor Count

37 billion

Memory Specifications

256-bit

Memory Bus Width

192-bit

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.

Unified LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

LPDDR5-6400

32 GB

Max Memory Size

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

36 GB

200 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

6400 MT/s

Maximum Memory Speed

6400 MT/s

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1

External Display Standard

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1

Apple M2 Pro GPU

GPU Name

Apple M3 Pro GPU

Up to two 6K 60Hz displays over Thunderbolt, or one 8K 60Hz display over HDMI

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

Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video

Video Concurrency

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

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Decode

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

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Video Encode

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration

Video Processing Unit

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration and AV1 decode

444 MHz

GPU Base Frequency

1398 MHz

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

1296 MHz

Graphics Core Count

Up to 2 external displays

Number of Displays Supported

Up to 2 external displays

Metal, OpenCL

GPU APIs

Metal, OpenCL

Up to 6.8 TFLOPS FP32

Graphics Performance

Up to 4.6 TFLOPS FP32

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

Media Engine

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

Video Decode Engines

Video Encode Engines

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

Yes

OpenCL Support

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

Yes

AI Specifications

16-core Apple Neural Engine

AI Engine

16-core Apple Neural Engine

Neural Engine Core Count

Apple Neural Engine

NPU Name

Apple Neural Engine

15.8 TOPS

NPU Performance

18 TOPS

Connectivity

Yes

Bluetooth Support

Yes

Bluetooth 5.3

Bluetooth Version

Bluetooth 5.3

Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)

Wi-Fi Standard

Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)

Interfaces and Ports

Yes, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40 Gb/s

Thunderbolt Support

Yes, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40 Gb/s

USB4

USB Version

USB4

Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s

USB4 Support

Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s

Miscellaneous

Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust

Hardware-Verified Secure Boot

Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust

Apple image signal processor

Image Signal Processor

Kernel Integrity Protection, Fast Permission Restrictions, System Coprocessor Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Secure Page Table Monitor

Runtime Anti-Exploitation

Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions

Secure Enclave

Security Processor

Secure Enclave