Apple M2 (8-core) vs Intel Core i7-6500U
58.1Single-core—
38.7Multi-core20.4
80Efficiencyspec-based66.4
—iGPU20
35Platformspec-based28.9
6 spec wins — Apple M2 (8-core)1 spec wins — Intel Core i7-6500U
InnoReviews verdict
No overall winner yet: Intel Core i7-6500U lacks the published benchmark results an Inno Score requires, so there is no Inno Score to compare — we don't rank chips on their spec sheet alone. The spec table below still shows every difference we track.
Which would you pick?
Key differences
Reasons to pick the Apple M2 (8-core)
- Stronger multi-core score: 39 vs 20
- 378% higher PassMark: 15,648 vs 3,276
- 300% higher cores: 8 vs 2
- 100% higher threads: 8 vs 4
- 64% lower process: 5 nm vs 14 nm
Reasons to pick the Intel Core i7-6500U
- 33% higher Max memory: 32 GB vs 24 GB
General
| Spec | Apple M2 (8-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | 2022 | 2015 |
| Process | 5 nm+64% | 14 nm |
| Base TDP | — | 15 W |
| Max TDP | — | 25 W |
Cores & Clocks
| Spec | Apple M2 (8-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Cores | 8+300% | 2 |
| Performance cores | 4 | — |
| Efficiency cores | 4 | — |
| Threads | 8+100% | 4 |
| Base clock | — | 2.5 GHz |
| Boost clock | 3.5 GHz+13% | 3.1 GHz |
| L3 cache | — | 4 MB |
Integrated GPU
| Spec | Apple M2 (8-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| iGPU | Apple 10-core GPU | Intel HD Graphics 520 |
| iGPU clock | — | 1,050 MHz |
Memory
| Spec | Apple M2 (8-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Memory support | LPDDR5-6400 | DDR4-2133 / LPDDR3-1866 / DDR3L-1600 |
| Max memory | 24 GB | 32 GB+33% |
Benchmarks
| Spec | Apple M2 (8-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 (single) | 2,600Top 44% | — |
| Geekbench 6 (multi) | 9,750Bottom 38% | — |
| Cinebench R23 (single) | 1,580Bottom 39% | — |
| Cinebench R23 (multi) | 8,700Bottom 30% | — |
| PassMark | 15,648+378%Bottom 32% | 3,276Bottom 4% |
| 3DMark Time Spy Graphics (iGPU) | — | 263Bottom 4% |
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