Apple M6 (12-core) vs Intel Core i7-6500U
98.1Single-core—
70.6Multi-core20.4
100Efficiencyspec-based66.4
—iGPU20
42.2Platformspec-based28.9
6 spec wins — Apple M6 (12-core)0 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 M6 (12-core)
- Stronger multi-core score: 71 vs 20
- 1008% higher PassMark: 36,310 vs 3,276
- 500% higher cores: 12 vs 2
- 200% higher threads: 12 vs 4
- 86% lower process: 2 nm vs 14 nm
Reasons to pick the Intel Core i7-6500U
No decisive spec advantages — this side competes on price and preference.
General
| Spec | Apple M6 (12-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Announced | 2026+1% | 2015 |
| Process | 2 nm+86% | 14 nm |
| Base TDP | — | 15 W |
| Max TDP | — | 25 W |
Cores & Clocks
| Spec | Apple M6 (12-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Cores | 12+500% | 2 |
| Performance cores | 6 | — |
| Efficiency cores | 6 | — |
| Threads | 12+200% | 4 |
| Base clock | — | 2.5 GHz |
| Boost clock | 4.8 GHz+55% | 3.1 GHz |
| L3 cache | — | 4 MB |
Integrated GPU
| Spec | Apple M6 (12-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| iGPU | Apple 12-core GPU | Intel HD Graphics 520 |
| iGPU clock | — | 1,050 MHz |
Memory
| Spec | Apple M6 (12-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Memory support | LPDDR5X | DDR4-2133 / LPDDR3-1866 / DDR3L-1600 |
| Max memory | 32 GB | 32 GB |
Benchmarks
| Spec | Apple M6 (12-core) | Intel Core i7-6500U |
|---|---|---|
| Geekbench 6 (single) | 4,610Top 2% | — |
| Geekbench 6 (multi) | 20,676Top 11% | — |
| PassMark | 36,310+1008%Top 17% | 3,276Bottom 4% |
| 3DMark Time Spy Graphics (iGPU) | — | 263Bottom 4% |
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