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Apple Silicon Mac SoC Generational Performance
Our detailed rankings, powered by Geekbench scores and Bang for Buck ratings/grades help you make informed decisions when choosing your next Mac. Our performance scores combine 3 different Geekbench scores into a single score that's a balanced indicator of overall performance.
Whether you’re looking for the best performance, the best deal on new or refurbed/used, or both, we’ve got the Mac data you need (that only a real nerd would love). Ready to explore? Search for Macs | Compare Macs (e.g. All Base M4s) | Recommendation Engine | Intel MacsOur takes: Based on the performance numbers we’ve researched and compiled for MacNerd, the M4 Pro takes the bang for the buck crown. If you’re a power user (designer, video editor, developer, etc.) who wants something as fast as previous generation Max chips, the M4 Pro punches above its weight (just like it’s base M4 version). We just recently put our money where is our mouth is with a new MacBook Pro 14″ M4 Pro.
From the generational graph above, you can see the improvements on each generation’s base Apple SoC form an almost straight diagonal line. But there are some interesting quirks along the way with the variants…
Why does the M3 Pro seem like it’s barely faster than the M2 Pro on benchmarking apps? We take a closer look here.
Remember there is no M4 Ultra (yet/if ever). Update: The now outdated rumors were that Apple was going announce a Mac Pro with M4 Ultra update at the World Wide Developers Conference held every June in Cupertino.Â
The Performance scores above and below combine Geekbench’s CPU (Single + Multi-core) & GPU Metal 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 (M2 base)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $415 | Performance*: 19,062
Bang for Buck: A+ - Mac mini (M4 Base)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $599 | Performance*: 26,772
Bang for Buck: A - Mac mini (M1 base)
Year: 2020 | Market Price: $370 | Performance*: 15,539
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Pro 15″ (Intel Core i7-7920HQ)
Year: 2017 | Market Price: $300 | Performance*: 9,879
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Pro 16″ (Intel Core i9-9980HK)
Year: 2019 | Market Price: $400 | Performance*: 12,935
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Pro 13″ (M1 base)
Year: 2020 | Market Price: $469 | Performance*: 14,675
Bang for Buck: A - Mac mini (M4 Pro)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,399 | Performance*: 37,347
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Pro 16″ (M3 Max)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $1,499 | Performance*: 39,229
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Air 13″ (M3 base)
Year: 2024 | Market Price: $845 | Performance*: 21,623
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Air 13″ (M4 Base)
Year: 2025 | MSRP: $999 | Performance*: 24,875
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Pro 16″ (M1 Pro)
Year: 2021 | Market Price: $1,000 | Performance*: 24,328
Bang for Buck: A - MacBook Pro 14″ (M2 Pro)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $1,244 | Performance*: 29,834
Bang for Buck: A - Mac Studio (M1 Max)
Year: 2022 | Market Price: $1,299 | Performance*: 29,707
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Air 15″ (M3 base)
Year: 2024 | Market Price: $949 | Performance*: 21,627
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Air 15″ (M2 base)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $849 | Performance*: 19,099
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Air 13″ (M2 base)
Year: 2022 | Market Price: $882 | Performance*: 19,174
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Air 15″ (M4 Base)
Year: 2025 | MSRP: $1,199 | Performance*: 26,012
Bang for Buck: B - Mac Studio (M4 Max)
Year: 2025 | MSRP: $2,699 | Performance*: 56,519
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Pro 16″ (M2 Pro)
Year: 2023 | Market Price: $1,399 | Performance*: 28,680
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Pro 16″ (M1 Max)
Year: 2021 | Market Price: $1,599 | Performance*: 31,198
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Pro 14″ (M4 Pro)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,999 | Performance*: 36,929
Bang for Buck: B - iMac 24″ (M4 – Binned)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,299 | Performance*: 23,876
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Air 13″ (M1 base)
Year: 2020 | Market Price: $849 | Performance*: 15,216
Bang for Buck: B - Mac Studio (M1 Ultra – Unbinned)
Year: 2022 | Market Price: $2,399 | Performance*: 42,741
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Pro 14″ (M4 Base)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $1,599 | Performance*: 26,911
Bang for Buck: B - iMac 24″ (M1 base)
Year: 2021 | Market Price: $935 | Performance*: 15,652
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Pro 16″ (M4 Pro)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $2,499 | Performance*: 41,332
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Pro 16″ (M4 Max)
Year: 2024 | MSRP: $3,499 | Performance*: 57,149
Bang for Buck: B - Mac Studio (M3 Ultra – Binned)
Year: 2025 | MSRP: $3,999 | Performance*: 60,296
Bang for Buck: B - MacBook Pro 16″ (M2 Max)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $2,499 | Performance*: 36,593
Bang for Buck: C - MacBook Pro 14″ (M3 Pro)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $1,999 | Performance*: 27,849
Bang for Buck: C - MacBook Pro 16″ (M3 Pro)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $2,499 | Performance*: 29,176
Bang for Buck: C - Mac Pro (M2 Ultra)
Year: 2023 | MSRP: $6,999 | Performance*: 55,078
Bang for Buck: C - Apple iPhone 16 Pro (vs Mac mini M4 base)
Year: 2024 | Price: N/A | Performance*: 16,381
Bang for Buck: D
How do these Macs compare to each other? Check out our Leaderboard Graph!