The Apple M3 is a system on a chip (SoC) from Apple for notebooks that was introduced in late 2023. It integrates a new 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores with up to 4.06 GHz and 4 efficiency cores running at up to 2.75 GHz. Apple claims that the CPU is up to 20% faster than in the old Apple M2 (3.5 GHz).
Due to the higher clock speeds and architecture improvements, the processor performance is also significantly better than the M2 in benchmarks (see e.g. Geekbench below) and can keep up with the fastest CPUs in short single-core tests (like the Raptor Lake i9-13950HX).
The M3 also integrates a new graphics adapter with dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration. According to Apple, it is 20% faster than the GPU in the M2. The chip integrates again 10 GPU cores, but the cheaper variant only offers 8 cores (e.g. in the entry iMac). Furthermore, the GPU only supports 2 displays (an additional 6K60 display to the internal one).
Both GPU and CPU can access the unified memory on the package together. It is still available in 8, 16 and 24 GB variants and offers the same 100 GB/s maximum bandwidth (unlike the Pro models that feature a reduced memory bandwidth).
The integrated 16-core Neural Engine has also been revised and now offers 18 TOPS peak performance (versus 15.8 TOPS in the M2 but 35 TOPS in the new A17 Pro). The video engine now supports AV1 decoding in hardware. H.264, HEVC and ProRes (RAW) can still be decoded and encoded.
Unfortunately, the integrated wireless network module only supports Wi-Fi 6E (no Wi-Fi 7) and due to the support of only a single external monitor, the chip also has to make do with no Thunderbolt 4 (Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 support only for up to 40 Gbit/s).
The chip is manufactured on the current 3nm TSMC process (N3B most likely) and contains 25 billion transistors (+25% vs. Apple M2). The 3nm process should also contribute to the excellent efficiency of the chip. Under load, the M3 CPU consumes approximately 20 Watt.
The Intel Core i7-1195G7 is a quad-core SoC from the Tiger Lake-UP3 product family designed for thin laptops and Ultrabooks that was introduced in 2021. It integrates four Willow Cove processor cores (8 threads thanks to Hyper-Threading). The base clock (minimum) depends on the configured TDP and can range from 1.3 GHz (12 Watt TDP) up to 2.9 GHz (28 W). The Turbo on one core can reach up to 5 GHz (Turbo Boost 3.0). All cores can reach up to 4.6 GHz. The i7-1195G7 is part of the Tiger Lake UP3 refresh and is the fastest CPU of the Tiger-Lake U line.
Furthermore, Tiger Lake SoCs supports four lanes of PCIe 4, AI hardware acceleration, and the partial integration of Thunderbolt 4/USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6E in the chip.
The 1195G7 integrates the Intel Iris Xe graphics adapter with 96 EUs clocked at 400 - 1400 MHz. The GPU and CPU can together use the 12 MB of L3 cache.
Performance
The average 1195G7 in our database matches the Intel Core i5-10300H in multi-thread performance while, perhaps surprisingly, lagging behind the AMD Ryzen 3 5300U. The makes the i7 a decent lower mid-range chip, as of early 2022. It'll run most apps with virtually no delays or slowdowns which is what the vast majority of users wants.
Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of slightly more than 30 W, the VAIO SX14 VJS144X0111K is among the fastest laptops built around the 1195G7 that we know of. It can be about 40% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.
Power consumption
This Core i7 series chip has a default TDP of 12 W to 28 W, the expectation being that laptop makers will go for a higher value in exchange for higher performance. Either way, that's a tad too high to allow for passively cooled designs.
The i7-1195G7 is built with Intel's 3rd generation 10 nm process marketed as SuperFin for below average, as of early 2023, energy efficiency.
- Range of benchmark values for this graphics card - Average benchmark values for this graphics card * Smaller numbers mean a higher performance 1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
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