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Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is INSANE - ROG Flow Z13 vs M4 Pro MBP

5 min read

Summary

This video compares the Asus ROG Flow Z13 with an AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU against the Apple M4 Pro MacBook. Despite the M4 Pro’s advantages in single-core performance and some benchmarks, the AMD APU in the ROG Flow Z13 demonstrates impressive performance, particularly in multi-core tasks, creative applications like Photoshop and Lightroom, and gaming, often with lower temperatures and quieter operation. The Z13’s flexibility with up to 128GB of RAM, including significant allocation for graphics, provides a substantial advantage in demanding workloads.

Key claims

  • The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU in the Asus ROG Flow Z13 offers competitive and sometimes superior performance to the Apple M4 Pro chip, especially in multi-core tasks and real-world productivity applications.
  • The ROG Flow Z13, despite being a tablet form factor, can achieve impressive performance without a dedicated graphics card, thanks to its advanced APU and cooling system.
  • The ability to allocate a large amount of RAM (up to 128GB total, with significant portions for graphics) to the APU in the Z13 is a key differentiator for demanding tasks and future-proofing.
  • While Apple’s M4 Pro excels in single-core performance and some benchmarks, the AMD chip on the Z13 demonstrates strong sustained performance and efficiency, often with lower thermal output.
  • The Asus ROG Flow Z13 is presented as a versatile device capable of both high-end gaming and demanding productivity work, challenging the traditional trade-off between thin-and-light designs and powerful performance.

Entities mentioned

  • amd_ryzen_ai_max_395 — The central processing unit in the Asus ROG Flow Z13 being benchmarked against Apple’s M4 Pro, showcasing its performance in various applications.
  • asus_rog_flow_z13 — The device hosting the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU, used for direct performance comparison against the MacBook Pro.
  • apple_m4_pro — The primary competitor chip to the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395, used in the MacBook Pro for performance comparisons.
  • macbook_pro — The device used to showcase the performance of the Apple M4 Pro chip in direct comparison with the Asus ROG Flow Z13.
  • geekbench — A key benchmarking tool used in the video to evaluate the raw processing power of the AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and the Apple M4 Pro.
  • 3d_mark — A benchmarking tool employed to test and compare the graphics and gaming performance capabilities of the Asus ROG Flow Z13 and the MacBook Pro.
  • cinebench — Utilised to stress-test the CPUs of both devices and monitor their thermal performance and sustained clock speeds under heavy load.
  • photoshop — A real-world application used to test the responsiveness and performance of the devices when handling complex design tasks like zooming and exporting layers.
  • blender — A demanding 3D rendering application used to test the graphics capabilities and VRAM allocation flexibility of the APU in the ROG Flow Z13 against the M4 Pro.
  • lightroom_classic — A critical real-world application used to test the devices’ ability to handle large-scale photo editing and export tasks, simulating demanding productivity workloads.
  • armory_crate — Used to check performance modes and fan settings on the ROG Flow Z13, specifically noting limitations on battery power.
  • msi_center — Used to monitor power gaps and clock speeds during the Cinebench stress test on the Asus ROG Flow Z13.

Concepts covered

  • apu_accelerated_processing_unit — The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 is an APU, and its performance is central to the comparison. The video explores how effectively it competes with dedicated CPUs and GPUs, especially in a thin-and-light form factor.
  • geekbench_performance — This concept is used to quantify and compare the raw CPU processing power of the AMD APU and the Apple M4 Pro, highlighting differences in single-threaded versus multi-threaded capabilities.
  • battery_performance — The video specifically tests how the AMD APU’s performance drops when unplugged, revealing a significant difference, and highlights the limitations imposed on performance modes when not tethered to a power source.
  • gaming_performance — The comparison includes gaming benchmarks to assess whether the integrated graphics of the AMD APU can deliver a satisfactory gaming experience comparable to or exceeding that of the M4 Pro, especially within the ROG Flow Z13’s gaming-centric marketing.
  • cpu_stress_testing — This concept is crucial for understanding the thermal management and sustained performance of the AMD APU versus the M4 Pro, particularly noting that the AMD chip runs cooler despite high performance.
  • ram_allocation_flexibility — The ROG Flow Z13’s capacity to allocate significant portions of its large RAM pool (up to 128GB) to graphics memory is highlighted as a major advantage for demanding creative and AI workloads, offering more VRAM than many dedicated GPUs.
  • real_world_productivity — The video emphasizes real-world tests in Photoshop, Blender, and Lightroom to demonstrate practical performance differences between the two devices, often showing the AMD APU outperforming expectations and even the M4 Pro in specific scenarios.
  • thermal_management — The video frequently discusses the temperatures of both devices during strenuous tasks, noting that the AMD APU in the Z13 runs significantly cooler than the M4 Pro in the MacBook, despite comparable or higher performance in some areas.

Contradictions or open questions

None identified.

Source

dDCC70W9vr0_Ryzen_AI_Max__395_is_INSANE___ROG_Flow_Z13_vs_M4_P.txt

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