Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) vs Intel Core i5 1235U

[ VERDICT ] Winner: Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) (97/100)

Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) leads overall with a score of 97/100 compared to Intel Core i5 1235U (43/100), offering superior measured performance and technical specifications.

Why choose Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU):
  • + Higher Efficiency score (93 vs 55)
  • + Higher Performance score (100 vs 59)
[ WINNER ]
Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)
Apple

Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU)

97/100
View Full Specs →
Intel Core i5 1235U
Intel

Intel Core i5 1235U

43/100
View Full Specs →

Benchmark Performance Comparison

Normalized Lab Scores
Benchmark measurements and scores across compared devices
Benchmark Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Efficiency 93.0 Excellent WINNER 55.0 Below Average
Performance 100.0 Excellent WINNER 59.0 Below Average

Detailed Technical Specifications

CPU

CPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Base Frequency (E) 4.38 GHz 0.9 GHz
Base Frequency (P) 4.61 GHz 1.3 GHz
E-Cores 12 8
E-Threads 12 8
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 80K (per core)
Multiplier 46x 13x
P-Cores 6 2
P-Threads 6 4
Total Cores 18 10
Total Threads 18 12
Unlocked Multiplier No No
Bus Frequency — 100 MHz
L2 Cache — 1280K (per core)
L3 Cache — 12MB (shared)
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) — 3.3 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) — 4.4 GHz

GeekBench v6

GeekBench v6 specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Background blur 99.8 images/sec 34.7 images/sec
Clang compilation 264.8 Klines/sec 24.1 Klines/sec
File compression 2730 MB/sec 448.4 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 769.2 pages/sec 156 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 762.6 Mpixels/sec 128.9 Mpixels/sec
Photo processing 260.4 images/sec 54.1 images/sec
Ray tracing 48.4 Mpixels/sec 10.5 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 438.2 pages/sec 206.3 pages/sec

General

General specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Codename Apple M5 Alder Lake
Instruction Set ARMv9 x86-64
Integrated GPU Apple M5 Max GPU (32-core) Iris Xe Graphics (80EU)
Released March 3, 2026 February 23, 2022
Type Laptop Laptop
Vendor Apple Intel
Model number — i5-1235U
Successor — -Intel Core Ultra 5 225U

Memory Support

Memory Support specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
ECC Support No No
Max. Memory Bandwidth 460.8 GB/s —
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 24 2
Memory Types - LPDDR5X-9600 - DDR5-4800- DDR4-3200- LPDDR5-5200- LPDDR4x-4267

Package

Package specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Fabrication Process 3 nm 10 nm
Peak Temperature 100°C 100°C
Socket Apple M-Socket BGA-1744
TDP (PL1) 64 W 12-15 W (configurable)
Transistors 28 billions —
Max. Boost TDP (PL2) — 55 W

PassMark

PassMark specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Data compression 689.6 MBytes/sec 143.4 MBytes/sec
Data encryption 40.8 GBytes/sec 9 GBytes/sec
Extended instructions 33.4B Matrices/sec 7.9B Matrices/sec
Find prime numbers 553M Primes/sec 534M Primes/sec
Floating point math 186.1 GOps/sec 37.4 GOps/sec
Integer math 132.6 GOps/sec 47.4 GOps/sec
Physics 6847 Frames/sec 649 Frames/sec
Random string sorting 84.9M Strings/sec 16.6M Strings/sec

Performance Per Watt

Performance Per Watt specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 32.3 PPW 24.5 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 454.2 PPW 424.1 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 897.9 PPW 829.9 PPW
Blender / Watt — 5.36 PPW

iGPU

iGPU specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Execution Units 512 80
GPU Boost Clock 1620 MHz 1200 MHz
Integrated Graphics Apple M5 Max GPU (32-core) Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80EU)
ROPs 128 20
Shading Units 4096 640
TMUs 256 40
GPU Base Clock — 300 MHz
TGP — 15 W

Cinebench

Cinebench specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) — 1046
Cinebench 2026 (Single) — 400

Misc

Misc specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Official Site — Intel Core i5 1235U official page
PCI Express Lanes — 20
PCI Express Version — 4.0
Technologies — - Compute: ABM, ADX, BMI1, BMI2, CLMUL, F16C, SHA- Performance: EIST, TBT 2.0, TSX- Virtualization: VT-d, VT-x- Security: RDRAND, TXT, XD bit

Recent User Tests

Recent User Tests specifications comparison
Specification Apple M5 Max (32-core GPU) Intel Core i5 1235U
Date — Benchmark
📘 2025-01-13(sauron269) — Cinebench 2024
📘 2026-03-08->samueltails — GeekBench
📘 2026-05-06(TASIN AMIR) — GeekBench
📘 2026-08-09(Jubayer) — Cinebench 2024
📘 2026-08-15(zoetje) — Cinebench 2026

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