M1 Pro 10-core SoC pips M1 Max to head PassMark's desktop and laptop CPU single-thread performance charts as Apple Silicon secures top four places

Things are starting to heat up in the PassMark CPU Mark charts, and they will only get hotter when Intel’s Alder Lake processors start being benchmarked in sufficient quantities. For months the single-thread performance charts for both laptop and desktop CPUs have been headed by the Apple M1 processor, but it has finally been removed. Another Apple Silicon representative has taken its place, in the form of the 10-core CPU variant of the M1 Pro.

The M1 Pro with 8x performance cores and 2x efficiency cores sits at the top with a score of 3,877 points, which just pips the score by the fellow 10-core M1 Max SoC, resting on 3,860 points. In a further blow to the now admittedly aging Intel and AMD competition, third place has been occupied by the 8-core CPU variant of the M1 Pro with 6x performance cores and 2x efficiency cores. This Apple Silicon SKU has a current score of 3,780 points.

To rub salt into the wound, the original Apple M1 only fell from first place to fourth, meaning all top four positions belong to Apple Silicon. It’s a not entirely unexpected situation, with Apple building upon the success of the M1’s Firestorm and Icestorm core microarchitecture. However, it is possible this supremacy will be short-lived, as Intel has its own hybrid processors arriving on November 4, with certain SKUs such as the i9-12900K and i5-12600K creating their own sensational synthetic benchmark appearances as of late.

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