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Apple Silicon Mac SOC Generational Performance
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Our takes: Based on the performance numbers we’ve researched and compiled here, the Mac mini with the M4 Pro is a beast. If you’re a power user (designer, video editor, developer, etc.) who wants something almost as fast a previous generation Max chip, the M4 Pro in the mini punches above its weight (just like it’s base M4 version).
From the generational graph above, you can see the improvements on each generation’s base Apple SOC like an almost straight diagonal line. But there are some interesting quirks along the way…
From a purely synthetic benchmark perspective, why does the M3 Pro seem like it’s barely faster than the M2 Pro? We took a closer look here.
Remember there is no M4 Ultra (yet/if ever). Update: The latest rumors are that Apple will announce a Mac Pro with M4 Ultra update at the World Wide Developers Conference held every June in Cupertino.
As for the SOC graphs, if there are binned and non-binned variants of the same family in our database, we will average them out here. This graph is refreshed automatically whenever there is an update to our database.
The scores above are combining Geekbench’s CPU & GPU Scores to be equally weighted by normalizing the GPU scores to be the on the same scale as CPU single/multi-core scores.
All Macs
- Mac mini (M4 Base)
Year: 2024 | Market Price: $529 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 26,772
Bang for Buck: 50.61 (Higher is better) - Mac mini (M1 base)
Year: 2020 | Market Price: $370 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 15,539
Bang for Buck: 42.00 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 15″ (Intel Core i7-7920HQ)
Year: 2017 | Market Price: $300 | Weight: 4.2 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 9,879
Bang for Buck: 32.93 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (Intel Core i9-9980HK)
Year: 2019 | Market Price: $400 | Weight: 4.3 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 12,935
Bang for Buck: 32.34 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 13″ (M1 base)
Year: 2020 | Market Price: $469 | Weight: 3.0 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 14,675
Bang for Buck: 31.29 (Higher is better) - Mac mini (M4 Pro)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,399 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 37,347
Bang for Buck: 26.70 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M3 Max)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $1,499 | Weight: 4.8 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 39,229
Bang for Buck: 26.17 (Higher is better) - MacBook Air 13″ (M3 base)
Year: 2024 | Market Price: $845 | Weight: 2.7 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 21,623
Bang for Buck: 25.59 (Higher is better) - MacBook Air 13″ (M4 Base)
Year: 2025 | MSRP: $999 | Weight: 2.7 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 24,875
Bang for Buck: 24.90 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M1 Pro)
Year: 2021 | Market Price: $1,000 | Weight: 4.7 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 24,328
Bang for Buck: 24.33 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 14″ (M2 Pro)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $1,244 | Weight: 3.5 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 29,834
Bang for Buck: 23.98 (Higher is better) - Mac Studio (M1 Max)
Year: 2022 | Market Price: $1,299 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 29,707
Bang for Buck: 22.87 (Higher is better) - MacBook Air 15″ (M3 base)
Year: 2024 | Market Price: $949 | Weight: 3.3 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 21,627
Bang for Buck: 22.79 (Higher is better) - MacBook Air 15″ (M2 base)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $849 | Weight: 3.3 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 19,099
Bang for Buck: 22.50 (Higher is better) - MacBook Air 13″ (M2 base)
Year: 2022 | Market Price: $882 | Weight: 2.7 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 19,174
Bang for Buck: 21.74 (Higher is better) - MacBook Air 15″ (M4 Base)
Year: 2025 | MSRP: $1,199 | Weight: 3.3 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 26,012
Bang for Buck: 21.69 (Higher is better) - Mac Studio (M4 Max)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $2,699 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 56,519
Bang for Buck: 20.94 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M4 Pro)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,999 | Weight: 4.7 Lbs | Nano-Texture Screen | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 41,332
Bang for Buck: 20.68 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M2 Pro)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $1,399 | Weight: 4.7 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 28,680
Bang for Buck: 20.50 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M1 Max)
Year: 2021 | Market Price: $1,599 | Weight: 4.8 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 31,198
Bang for Buck: 19.51 (Higher is better) - iMac 24″ (M4 – Binned)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,299 | Nano-Texture Screen | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 23,876
Bang for Buck: 18.38 (Higher is better) - MacBook Air 13″ (M1 base)
Year: 2020 | Market Price: $849 | Weight: 2.8 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 15,216
Bang for Buck: 17.92 (Higher is better) - Mac Studio (M1 Ultra – Unbinned)
Year: 2022 | Market Price: $2,399 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 42,741
Bang for Buck: 17.82 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 14″ (M4 Base)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,599 | Weight: 3.4 Lbs | Nano-Texture Screen | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 26,911
Bang for Buck: 16.83 (Higher is better) - iMac 24″ (M1 base)
Year: 2021 | Market Price: $935 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 15,652
Bang for Buck: 16.74 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M4 Max)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $3,499 | Weight: 4.7 Lbs | Nano-Texture Screen | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 57,149
Bang for Buck: 16.33 (Higher is better) - Mac Studio (M3 Ultra – Binned)
Year: 2025 | MSRP: $3,999 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 60,296
Bang for Buck: 15.08 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M2 Max)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $2,499 | Weight: 4.8 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 36,593
Bang for Buck: 14.64 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 14″ (M3 Pro)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $1,999 | Weight: 3.5 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 27,849
Bang for Buck: 13.93 (Higher is better) - MacBook Pro 16″ (M3 Pro)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $2,499 | Weight: 4.7 Lbs | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 29,176
Bang for Buck: 11.68 (Higher is better) - Mac Pro (M2 Ultra)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $6,999 | Normalized Combined Geekbench Score: 55,078
Bang for Buck: 7.87 (Higher is better)
How do these Macs compare to each other? Check out our Leaderboard Graph!