Not true, obviously: M4 Max in the new Macbook Pros has been benchmarked to be faster [1].<p>Its not just a little faster than the #2; looking at ~15-20% uplifts in both single and multi compared to the previous kings. The previous production single core #1 was ~3100; Apple skipped over most of the 3000s right into the 4000s.<p>[1] <a href="https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/8593555/" rel="nofollow">https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/8593555/</a>
So the new Mini is faster than all existing Macs (at least on multicore Geekbench). That revelation sort of throws a monkey wrench into the grand plan of seldom buying a super-duper Mac that will perform competitively for years. Better to buy the cheapest Mac possible (with a Pro CPU) and leave the Studios and Pros to rich fools eager to part with their megabucks.
Geekbench multi falls off a cliff after ~16 cores. E.g. the Epyc 9654 with 96 cores benches lower than the Ryzen 7950X with 16 cores of the same generation.
So Ultra used to be the max but now Max is max… until Ultra goes past the max and Max is no longer the max.<p>Until the next Max that goes beyond Ultra!
Laptops with AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX or Intel Ultra 7 look bleak performance wise and expensive price wise than compared with M4. Snapdragon X Elite is just a flop compared with M4.
Seems that if you are into photography you still have to wait until M4 Max based Studio is out and wait out Mac Mini Pro. 2x graphics performance will accelerate many GPU-based tasks in tools like Topaz Photo AI, Lightroom and Photoshop, Luminar, etc.