Apple M4
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 4 of 16 processors by recommenders
Recommended for strong single-core speed and power efficiency, and many consider Apple's CPU design among the best. Critics say it trails rivals on vector math and AI inference.
Recommended for strong single-core speed and power efficiency, and many consider Apple's CPU design among the best. Critics say it trails rivals on vector math and AI inference.
26 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 21
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 21 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong single-core performance
“There is no non Apple desktop/server cpu with faster single core than apple m5 or even m4”
Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Why E cores make Apple Silicon fast” “M4 is 42% faster in ST and M5 is 50% faster based on Geekbench 6 ST.”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Intel Panther Lake (first Intel 18A node product) makes debut at CES” “their single core perf is just much better than anyone else”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “The Forgetful CPU (Linux on M4)” - Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Intel Panther Lake (first Intel 18A node product) makes debut at CES”
- Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces MacBook Neo”
Apple known for excellent CPU design
“If Apple can create one of the best CPUs in the world”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “The Forgetful CPU (Linux on M4)” “Apple is actually exceptionally good at making CPUs.”
Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Helping Valve to power up Steam devices” “Apple has some of the best CPUs in the world.”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “The Forgetful CPU (Linux on M4)” - Comment from 3 Nov 2025 in “Linux gamers on Steam cross over the 3% mark”
Efficient power use
“Very efficient idle TDP, efficient all core boost, efficient all core TDP, and efficient mid-high performance tier accelerator (GPU, NPU) TDP.”
Comment from 3 Oct 2026 in “The Forgetful CPU (Linux on M4)” “M4 achieves 25% of the Geekbench scores of GPUs that pull >10x more power. That's definitely efficient.”
Comment from 15 Dec 2025 in “Show HN: 100 Million splats, a whole town, rendered in M2 MacBook Air” Fast local model inference
“Then why does my M4 run models at TOK/s that similar priced GPUs cannot?”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple AI servers unused in warehouses due to low Apple Intelligence usage” “run models at TOK/s that similar priced GPUs cannot”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “Apple AI servers unused in warehouses due to low Apple Intelligence usage”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weak for AI inference
“Apple would claim 2x more ANE TOPS than it can really does”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Inside the M4 Apple Neural Engine, Part 1: Reverse Engineering” “M4 was notoriously slow at this compared to DGX etc.”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple Introduces MacBook Pro with All‑New M5 Pro and M5 Max” “it's not anything special for inference”
Comment from 3 Mar 2026 in “Apple introduces the new iPad Air, powered by M4”
Other processors people recommend
The four most recommended other processors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple M5 | 48 | 14 | 77% | 11 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 | 44 | 14 | 76% | 11 | — | Approved |
| AMD Ryzen | 25 | 12 | 68% | 11 | 1.4 yrs3 owners | Approved |
| Apple M4This page | 21 | 5 | 81% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Intel N150 | 21 | 1 | 95% | 10 | — | Approved |
What people said
All 30 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“If Apple can create one of the best CPUs in the world”
“Apple has some of the best CPUs in the world.”
“Very efficient idle TDP, efficient all core boost, efficient all core TDP, and efficient mid-high performance tier accelerator (GPU, NPU) TDP.”
“their single core perf is just much better than anyone else”
“Not very close at all, not even to the two-year-old model, it appears”
“they reduced the memory bandwdith on the M4”
“I don't have any M5 to test with right now”
“The issue is more to do with the CPU not being as good as say an AMD AI Max or an M4.”
“I find even an M4 will lag sometimes when coding”
“the modern M4/ARM unified memory with on-chip GPU is years ahead of Intel”
“the M4 chips are absolutely insane”
“the single thread perf of the M4 beats most PC cpus”
“M4 was already imo a more meaningful upgrade compared to m2/m3”
“runs the Rust compiler a good bit faster than the big fancy gaming PC I just got”
“M4 was notoriously slow at this compared to DGX etc.”
“it's not anything special for inference”
“Apple would claim 2x more ANE TOPS than it can really does”
“Then why does my M4 run models at TOK/s that similar priced GPUs cannot?”
“run models at TOK/s that similar priced GPUs cannot”
“There is no non Apple desktop/server cpu with faster single core than apple m5 or even m4”
“the M-series chips coming out on top”
“These processors are good all around. The P cores kick butt too.”
“my attempts at using the SSVE extension for vector math were an utter failure for performance”
“I think the non-Pro base model M4 would be just fine for a CI box.”
“they simply have a better architecture at the moment”
“M4 is 42% faster in ST and M5 is 50% faster based on Geekbench 6 ST.”
“Apple Silicon is definitely not the most efficient raster architecture”
“M4 achieves 25% of the Geekbench scores of GPUs that pull >10x more power. That's definitely efficient.”
“Apple is actually exceptionally good at making CPUs.”
“Apple M3/M4 are a great chip”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.