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What just happened? Apple launched its refreshed MacBook Pro in early November, and initial benchmarks revealed that the M4 Max outperforms both the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X in Geekbench 6. Now, new tests indicate that the chip's GPU may also surpass the performance of Nvidia's RTX 4070.
The impressive test results come from Blender Open Data, where the M4 Max scored an average of 5,205 points across 38 tests. This places it just below the laptop version of the RTX 4080, which achieved 5,326 points, but well ahead of the RTX 3080 Ti and the desktop RTX 4070. The RTX 3080 Ti scored 5,193 points, while the RTX 4070 managed only 5,128 points.
Additional evidence of the M4 Max's power comes from YouTuber and Blender expert Robbie Tilton, who tested the M4 chips alongside various Nvidia graphics cards in Blender to evaluate their performance. In his rendering tests, the M4 Max MacBook Pro outperformed the Nvidia RTX 3080 but narrowly trailed the RTX 4080 Super in rendering times.
The tests highlight the raw power of Apple's new M4 chips, but what's truly remarkable is how these compact SoCs with integrated graphics can go toe-to-toe with - and in some cases outperform - large discrete desktop graphics cards.
The M4 chips also consume significantly less power than Nvidia's offerings, making their achievements even more impressive. While the RTX 4080 Super can draw up to 320W, the M4 Max is believed to use only a fraction of that amount, as the M4 Pro has a reported maximum power consumption of around 46W.
However, the impressive performance of the M4 Max doesn't necessarily reflect the capabilities of the entire M4 family. In Tilton's tests, the base M4 chip performed considerably slower than its high-end sibling, taking nearly four times longer to render various scenes.
For context, the RTX 4090 remains the undisputed leader in the Blender Open Data benchmark, scoring an astonishing 10,880 points. While Apple's current chips aren't yet in the same league, it will be interesting to see if the rumored M4 Ultra has what it takes to challenge Nvidia's flagship.