New MacBook Pro benchmarks for M2 Max reveal major leap over M1 Max

Apple unveiled its brand new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips this week, the next processors from the second generation of the Apple silicon line based on M2. 

They come with the promise of hefty performance upgrades over the previous M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, delivering increased power to the new Mac mini and the new MacBook Pro. 

Yesterday, initial benchmarks seemed to indicate that was indeed the case, with the M2 Pro in the new Mac mini smashing the old M1 Max chip in Geekbench testing. The M2 Pro is also quicker than some Intel 12th-gen offerings and on par with the 13th-generation models. 

We've now got some early figures for the new M2 Max chip housed in the 2023 MacBook Pro, which confirm a big leap over the M1 Max in performance. Let's take a look.

M2 Max MacBook Pro Benchmarks

At first glance, there are at least seven tests live for the new M2 Max chip. The scores for single-core and multi-core came in as follows. Bearing in mind benchmarks can be a bit skewed in the early days when a new chip comes out, the M2 Pro Max with 64GB of RAM (save two that are marked with 96GB) clocked the following:

• 1965 / 15373
• 1885 / 15020 (96GB)
• 1772 / 13757
• 1949 / 14494
• 2030 / 15333
• 1969 / 15103
• 2027 / 14888 (96GB)

The first, and most obvious observation, is that the new M2 Max chip inside the MacBook Pro 2023 handsomely beats the 2021 MacBook Pro with M1 Max, which is listed on Geekbench's charts at 1745 / 12191.

Whilst almost nobody will likely be upgrading from the 2021 MacBook Pro to the new model, it's good to know what the difference is between the 2021 and 2023 MacBook Pro models in terms of raw processing power, with the latter firmly establishing itself as the best MacBook on the market right now. 

If you've seen the M2 Pro benchmarks, you might be wondering why there isn't much difference between the M2 Pro and M2 Max, given the price gap and overall power difference. However, both M2 Pro and M2 Max share the same 12-core CPU, which is why the results are very similar. The M2 Max shines thanks to its much higher GPU count and its faster, higher capacity unified memory. The same was true of the M1 Pro and M1 Max, which in the MacBook Pro 2021 scored almost identically in testing. 

The new M2 MacBook Pro, asides from its new processors, is largely similar to the older model, offering the same display and chassis. You can see a full rundown of Apple's new chips versus Intel and AMD below.