[Comparison] AMD Ryzen 7 6800U vs Apple M2 – If this is how the M2 performs, we can’t wait for the M2 Pro and M2 Max

The Apple M2 comes in as an improvement over the M1, which you can read all about here. However, the rest of the laptop world has improved as well, as Intel stomps out its competition with Alder Lake, while AMD continues to increase its efficiency and maintain pretty good performance with its Ryzen 6000 series.

Recently, we finally got a Ryzen 7 6800U-powered laptop, and we’ve been very excited, to test its computational capabilities. The Apple M2 is a close competitor to it, as the MacBook Air 13 and MacBook Pro 13 are small and powerful laptops, similar to many Ryzen 7 6800U-powered devices.

Today we’re comparing the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U against the Apple M2.

You can take a look at our Top Laptop CPU Ranking, where we showcase the best and the newest laptop processors.

You can find more information about both CPUs here: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U / Apple M2 (10-core GPU) / Apple M2 (8-core GPU)

Specs table

AMD Ryzen 7 6800UUApple M2
ArchitectureZen 3+Apple M-series
Cores / Threads8/168/8
Clock Speeds – Base/Boost2.70 – 4.70GHz2.4 – 3.40GHz
Cache20MB20MB
Lithography6nm5nm
TDP15-28W20W
Memory type

DDR5-4800, LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5-6400 MHz
Integrated GPUAMD Radeon RX 680MApple M1 GPU (8-core) / Apple M1 GPU (10-core)

CPU benchmarks

The Cinebench 20 scores sway heavily in favor of the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U, as the chip scores 95% higher. In the newer Cinebench R23 benchmark, the M2 does much better, having a 9% higher score than the Ryzen CPU. The M2 is also quicker in Geekbench 5, in both the single-core and multi-core tests.

Results are from the Cinebench R23 CPU test (the higher the score, the better)

Results are from our Photoshop benchmark test (the lower the score, the better)

Geekbench 5SingleMulti
AMD Ryzen 7 6800U14007740
Apple M21933 (+38%)8985 (+16%)
Cinebench R23
AMD Ryzen 7 6800U8044
Apple M28739 (+9%)

Conclusion

The M2 comes in as a remarkable upgrade over its predecessor, which as you can see, pushes the Ryzen 7 6800U to its limits, even outperforming it in the majority of scenarios that we test. While it’s rare that a Windows user would switch to using a MacBook, the M2 SoC, and laptops equipped with it make a pretty good case to do so, offering a good mix of power and exceptional battery life. However, if you’d like to remain a Windows purist, the Ryzen 7 6800U is an excellent chip for thin and light machines.

All laptops with the AMD Ryzen 7 6800U:


All laptops with the Apple M2 (10-core GPU):


All laptops with the Apple M2 (8-core GPU):

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