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Today, AMD unveiled their latest innovation for laptops, the Ryzen AI Max chip, promising substantial performance enhancements compared to its predecessors. The buzz grew as the company pitted the new Ryzen AI Max against Apple’s M4 line in various benchmark tests. Notably absent, though, was a comparison with Apple’s premium M4 Max variant. Apple rolled out the M4 Max chip alongside the fresh-off-the-press 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, ushering in sweeping improvements in both computational and graphical prowess.
In a move raising eyebrows, AMD chose to omit the M4 Max when stacking up their Ryzen AI Max chip against Apple’s offerings. Instead, the spotlight was on the M4 and M4 Pro chips. To those in the know, the Ryzen AI Max boasts a powerful 16-core architecture with a spotlight on graphics performance and AI prowess. It’s being showcased as the ideal choice for gamers and content creators craving top-tier power. To flaunt its capabilities, AMD drew comparisons with Apple’s M4 and M4 Pro in the latest MacBook Pro lineup.
What strikes as odd here is AMD’s decision to bench their 16-core beast against Apple’s M4 Pro, which is powered by a 14-core CPU. Despite this mismatch, AMD laid claim to an impressive 86% lead in v-ray workloads. Paul Alcorn of Tom’s Guide comments on these comparisons, pointing out the disparities in core counts.
“AMD also included numerous rendering benchmarks of its 16-core flagship against the 12-core Apple MacBook M4 Pro, claiming an up to 86% advantage in a v-ray workload. Naturally, the 14-core M4 Pro, also included in the benchmarks, is more competitive, but AMD still holds a stout lead in the Blender, Corona, and v-ray selection of benchmarks. However, the Ryzen AI Max+ isn’t as performant in the multi-threaded Cinebench 2024 test, beating the 12-core M4 Pro by a scant 2%, and trailing the 14-core M4 Pro by 3%.”
What stands out is the glaring absence of Apple’s top-tier M4 Max in this face-off. One might reasonably conjecture the M4 Pro holds its own against AMD’s Ryzen AI Max with just 14 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores. Apple’s M4 chip, by contrast, comes with a less robust 12-core CPU paired with a 10-core GPU. The M4 Max elevates things further with the highest CPU and GPU core count in Apple’s lineup, shedding light on AMD’s reluctance to engage it in direct combat.
With its formidable 16-core CPU and an up to 40-core GPU, the M4 Max likely would have outpaced the Ryzen AI Max benchmarks. AMD’s chip already grapples to outshine the M4 Pro, making a contest against the M4 Max a potentially humbling experience. Seeking to avoid being overshadowed, AMD strategically chose to demonstrate their flagship against Apple’s more mainstream contender. Still, the Ryzen AI Max proves superior in specific tests against Apple’s chips, leaving its true potential in everyday use still somewhat of a mystery.
There’s no denying the Ryzen AI Max chip represents a significant leap forward for AMD, yet comparing it to Apple’s offerings seems a bit of a mismatch (all puns intended!). Even though it might not seem completely fair, Apple’s forthcoming M4 Ultra promises to shake up the arena later this year. Add to this the anticipation surrounding Apple’s 2nm chips, expected to bring further enhancements in performance and efficiency. With all this tech talk, where do you stand on AMD’s decision to pit their new Ryzen AI Max chip against the M4 and M4 Pro for comparison?
