Tech Takedown: 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 Mobile Processor vs. M3 Max MacBook Pro
Compare the performance and features of a 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-powered laptop and an M3 Max MacBook Pro to see which PC reigns supreme!
The Contestants
On one side of the ring, we have the 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-13900H mobile processor-based MSI Stealth 17 laptop. On the other side of the ring, we have an Apple M3 Max MacBook Pro.
Let’s watch these laptops duke it out to discover which device wins in categories like processor performance, design, and compatibility.
Round 1: Performance
Which processor will come out on top in web browsing, content creation, and overall performance?
Overall Performance
Defeating the competition in most overall categories, the Intel® Core™ i9-13900H processor-based MSI Stealth 17 comes out on top with a 25% higher responsiveness score when tested against the M3 Max MacBook Pro:
Web Browsing Performance
Edging out the competition, the Intel® Core™i9-13900H processor-based MSI Stealth 17 laptop delivered a better overall performance when tested in web browsing than the M3 Max MacBook Pro:
Content Creation Performance
In a landslide victory, the Intel® Core™i9-13900H processor-based MSI Stealth 17 laptop took down the M3 Max MacBook Pro having performed more than 65% better on all content creation workloads tested:
See Notices & Disclaimers for additional details.
Round 2: Design Duel
Which processor-based laptop provides more design choices and operating system options to users?
Desgin & OS Options
M3 Max MacBook Pro Laptops offer:
MacOS as the only OS choice
No touchscreen
Only clamshell mode
Minimal ports
13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops offer:
Multiple OS choices such as Windows, Chrome, Linux, and more
Touchscreen (even dual-touch screens)
Clamshell, tent, tablet modes
Detachable and convertible form factors
More port options
Defeating the competition with ease, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops enable customers to choose their design and OS, whereas with Apple, they have no options to choose from.
Round 3: Compatibility Quest
Which processor will knock out the competition with post-purchase upgrade options and multi-device support?
M3 Max MacBook Pro Laptops have:
No post-purchase upgrades
Exclusive compatibility with other Apple products– such as iOS, iPadOS, and macOS only
13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops have:
Customizability options pre- purchase and post-purchase
Intel® Unison™ software, which works across OSs to integrate Android or iOS-based phones and tablets with a user’s PC
Crushing the competition, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops offer customization options and increased device compatibility with Intel® Unison™ software.
Round 4: Gaming Gala
Which processor-based laptop enables gamers to play their favorite AAA games?
M3 Max MacBook Pros (ft. macOS)
Many AAA games are not supported on macOS, leaving users unable to play over 25 titles, including:
13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops (ft. Windows)
Intel® Core™ processor-based laptops with Windows OS support the same 25 gaming titles, enabling users to play their favorite games, such as:
Press Picks
Based on the data, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 processor-based laptops came out on top when tested, but do the judges agree?
Here’s what 3rd party critics have to say about Apple’s M3 chip series:
“The cheapest M3 MacBook is the 14-inch MacBook Pro that features 8GB of unified memory but costs $1,599. Meanwhile, PC users can easily find more affordable notebooks with 16GB of system RAM and additional VRAM. While unified memory offers some advantages over socketed RAM, 8GB is still a smaller pool for the CPU and GPU to share”
- TECHSPOT1
“Unfortunately, it's challenging for us to fully compare Mac gaming performance vs. the gaming performance of competing Windows machines because many of the games we use don't run natively on macOS.”
- tom’s guide2
“The lack of user-initiated hardware upgrades has long been a sticking point with Apple, especially since memory and storage upgrades are so pricey for its systems. Although we wish that Apple would reverse course and at least provide easy access to standardized M.2 SSD upgrades, that ship has sailed”
- Tom’s Hardware3
Summary
13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops emerged victorious when tested against the M3 Max MacBook Pro.
With more design and OS choices, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops set themselves even farther apart from the competition.
Support for AAA games and Intel® Unison™ software further extends 13th Gen Intel® Core™ i9 mobile processor-based laptops lead and establishes these PCs as an excellent device for customers.
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Performance varies by use, configuration and other factors. Learn more at www.intel.com/PerformanceIndex.
1 TECHSPOT, 11/8/23, https://www.techspot.com/news/100784-apple-8gb-ram-m3-macbooks-similar-16gb-windows.html
2 Tom’s Guide, 11/6/23, https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/apple-imac-m3#:~:text=So%20while%20the%20iMac%20M3,and%20wants%20to%20enjoy%20them.
3 Tom’s Hardware, 11/6/23, https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/apple-imac-2023
Device Configurations
Intel® Core™ i9-13900H (5.40 GHz max turbo, 6P+8E cores, 20 threads) measured on MSI Stealth 17, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, (nVidia Driver: 528.92, Max Graphics Power: 105W), 64 GB RAM, 2TB SSD, Windows 11 22621.2715 (22H2) (Browser versions: Chrome 120.0.6099.72 and Microsoft Edge 119.0.2151.44 (64 bit))
Apple M3 Max (12 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores) measured on MacBook Pro 16“, 40-core integrated GPU, 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD, macOS 14.1.1 (Browser versions: Chrome 120.0.6099.72)
Workload Descriptions
Tested as of 12/20/2023
CrossMark (v1.0.1.95) is a benchmark from the BAPCo consortium that is an easy to run native cross-platform benchmark that measures the overall system performance and system responsiveness using models of real-world applications. CrossMark The Creativity scenario models editing digital photos cataloging digital photos and editing digital video
Intel Core i7-13700H measurement from https://results.bapco.com/dashboard, last accessed 12/29/2023
WebXPRT 4: This browser benchmark compares the performance of almost any web-enabled device. It contains six HTML5- and JavaScript-based scenarios created to mirror the tasks you do every day: photo enhancement, organize an album using artificial intelligence (AI), stock-option pricing, encrypting notes and optical character recognition (OCR) scans, sales graphs, and online homework.
Blender Monster/Junkshop/Classroom CPU and GPU (version 3.1.0) - Measures 3D rendering performance run on CPU and GPU using Blender, a free and open-source 3D Creation software. You can download the Open Data Benchmark from the opendata.blender.org homepage with versions for Windows, Linux and macOS. You can then select any number of the 7 benchmarks (details listed below) to run on your choice of Blender version and render device (CPU / GPU).
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