AMD has just rolled out the Ryzen AI Max chip for laptops, promising a substantial leap in performance over its predecessors. They’ve put their new chip head-to-head with Apple’s M4 processor series in various tests. However, interestingly, they decided not to compare it against Apple’s premium offering, the M4 Max. This omission comes at an exciting time, as Apple’s M4 Max chip recently debuted alongside the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, delivering significant boosts in both computational and graphical capabilities.
Curiously, AMD’s benchmark comparisons for their Ryzen AI Max chip included only Apple’s regular M4 and the M4 Pro chips, but noticeably skipped over the M4 Max. Now, if you’re new to the scene, AMD’s chip packs a punch with its 16-core design, carving out its niche for graphics and AI-intensive tasks. Marketed as an ultimate choice for gamers and content creators craving raw power, AMD showcased just how their chip fares against the standard and Pro versions of Apple’s M4 lineup.
A puzzling aspect of this comparison becomes visible when AMD pits its robust 16-core semiconductor against Apple’s 14-core M4 Pro. They’ve claimed an impressive 86% gain in a v-ray workload. Paul Alcorn from Tom’s Guide gave us some insights into the scenario.
“AMD’s presentations featured several rendering benchmarks where their top-end 16-core processor went toe-to-toe with the 12-core Apple MacBook M4 Pro, boasting up to an 86% advantage in v-ray tasks. Naturally, the 14-core M4 Pro was in the mix too, showing stiffer competition. However, AMD still maintained a notable lead in platforms like Blender, Corona, and v-ray. Still, in Cinebench 2024’s multi-threaded tests, Ryzen AI Max+ only narrowly outperformed the 12-core M4 Pro by 2% and actually trailed the 14-core M4 Pro by 3%.”
What stands out like a sore thumb is the absence of Apple’s powerhouse M4 Max chip from these comparisons. It’s pretty clear why AMD didn’t dare to go toe-to-toe with it. Given that the M4 Pro, which houses up to 14 CPU and 20 GPU cores, already matches up closely with AMD’s chip, imagine what the 16-core CPU and up to 40-core GPU of the M4 Max would do. There’s no doubt it would steal the show in any substantial benchmark comparison. Therefore, AMD likely chose to sidestep this David vs. Goliath encounter to avoid a potentially unfavorable outcome. Yet, it remains intriguing that the Ryzen AI Max shines brightly in areas against Apple’s lineup, though how this plays out in real-world usage is still open for debate.
Unavoidably, the Ryzen AI Max is a formidable force and a great leap from its forerunners, though betting against Apple’s innovation with the M4 Max seems like comparing apples to oranges. Let’s not forget, Apple is expected to drop its M4 Ultra chip later this year, which would undoubtedly shake up the competition. Plus, with a shift toward 2nm chips, Apple’s edge in performance and power efficiency is set to widen. One question remains: Was AMD’s decision to compare its latest chip with only selected Apple processors a fair call, especially when the M4 Max offers much more?
