The new Dell Pro Max 16 and 18 plus represent the highest performance mobile workstations from Dell's new Pro Max range, replacing Dell's previous top of the line 7000 series under the previous Dell Precision brand that we've known and loved for over 20 years. These systems last saw a chassis design change in 2022, and we've also been waiting longer than usual for new CPUs from Intel and graphics cards from it. Video. The good news is, for 2025, we're not just seeing the name change, but full of updates to both the chassis and internals. So has it been worth the wait? The most obvious changes on the outside first is the precision 7000 series laptops are the darker magnetite color, and the option for an even bigger 18 inch screen model. The rest of the design language is updated with flatter sidewalls and a more angular, tapered base compared to the rounded shape of the previous generation. While this, combined with the larger feet on the base mimic, the laptops look larger than the previous generation. In reality, there is only a modest increase despite needing to accommodate for ever more powerful components In terms of those more powerful components, these feature Intel's most powerful core ultra 200 hit CPUs with up to 24 cores, alongside Nvidia's latest RTX Pro Blackwell generation graphics with up to 24GB on the RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell graphics card, and up to 256GB of come to system memory. The priority of this new design is airflow, with the higher feet raising the laptop off the surface and the tapered edges making it look like it's actually floating off the desk. Remember, these are desktop replacement laptops, been designed to run at high power levels for sustained periods over the course of many years. We measured the old 17 inch laptop and the new Pro Max 18 plus, and we found only a couple of millimeters of difference. Despite the new model looking significantly thicker on first impressions. Manufacturers usually quote starting, where it's often without components such as the larger heatsink for dedicated graphics. So we went the Pro Max 16 and 18 systems were tested, and they came in at 2.93kg and 3.61kg, respectively, about 40g heavier for the Pro Max 16 plus. But most impressive is the 18 inch model. Despite having 14% more screen area, this is only increased by about 340g versus the equivalent spec of the 17 inch precision 7780 model. This is primarily due to a mix of lighter magnesium alloy materials and some smart design choices. To fully understand how Dell R&D have pulled this off, we need to open up the laptop to get a look at all of the engineering that goes into these laptop workstations. This design is significantly different to laptop internals that we've seen in the past. A typical design has two fans with heatsinks placed on either side of the laptop, with the CPU and graphics chips sat side by side between them, with heat pipes carrying the heat away. Dell have placed three fans side by side at the top left of the laptop. On first impressions, this doesn't appear to leave space for the CPU and graphics chips. What Dell have done instead is stack the CPU and graphics card in a clever offset arrangement, with the CPU right next to the memory and the GPU towards the top of the laptop, but don't think that this stacking will result in thermal compromises, though, as Dell report an increase with up to 35% higher cooling capacity and increased power limits of 170W for CPU and graphics combined in the Pro Max 16 and 200W on the Pro Max 18 I run. Initial tests were in line with this. With the Pro Max laptops were feature and running at power levels in excess of what we've seen on mobile workstations in the past. With the Nvidia RTX Pro 4000 Blackwell graphics card, we're in a sustained 150W in our test, it. As engineers, we of course wanted to dig deeper into the R&D that goes into keeping these systems running at such peak performance. There is further innovation in the way that the three funds work together with the first two of the same size focus on exhaust in the heat generated from the CPU and graphics card, whilst the third fan is separated by seals from the others and the vent above it blocked, which did seem odd at first. However, on checking with Dell, they explained its task is to generate negative pressure, joining Cool Air from the remote air intakes at the bottom of the case, causing cooler air to flow over the memory and storage, and also to keep the skin of the laptop cool. And speaking of memory, you might notice that the Ram on one of our Pro Max plus laptops we've cracked open looks a little different. These laptops support the new compression attached memory module two. the idea behind this standard is to ensure that we don't have a ceiling of memory speeds with the current dominant, so a dim format. We're starting to run into those pesky laws of physics, meaning the memory traces need to be as short as possible to ensure fast data transfer, and many designs are opting for a non upgradable soldered Ram. As a result. Dell pioneered this new, smaller, upgradeable format with their previous generation precision 7000 series, and the second edition has been approved by industry body JDC, which means we are starting to see a wider adoption by other manufacturers. Memory choices at launch are the two slots for up to 64GB of dim memory, and this is also the new clocked SO dim memory format, which features an extra chip on the modules to ensure it can run at a faster 6400 mega transfers per second, up from 5600 in the previous generation. And for workflows needing huge amounts of Ram, a single 128 gigabyte dual channel cam module is available, running at the same 6400 Mega transfers per second. later down the line will come options for either 96GB of C s, a dim memory, or two single channel cam modules for a total of 256GB of Ram. Next to the Ram, a three m2 solid state drive slots for up to four terabytes each on both models, with the 18 inch model supporting a fourth drive to the left of the battery, which at 96 watt hours is just below the largest allowed on an aircraft. So Dell's engineers have done a great job in packaging the components on the inside. And with the laptop back together, we can see that on the outside, the clever hinge design helps minimize the size of the laptop, particularly for the Pro Max 18, while providing a large gap for hot air to be exhausted again, aided by a large rear foot to rest the system off the desk. And while we took the whole base off to get a look at the internals, the good news is for the majority of tasks, you shouldn't need to the new Quick Access panel option allows easy access to the memory, storage and battery for upgrades or maintenance out of the factory. This is initially secured by a small screw that you'll need to remove. And once removed, it's a simple slide to the latch to get access to those key components. If you do prefer to stick to a regular single piece base attached by screws, this is an option. Also. Another big change for both systems is that Dell have disposed of the dedicated 240 watt barrel jack power socket. Now power is supplied over a usb-C connector, whether it is the supplied 2080W usb-C power supply or Dell's new Thunderbolt five small docking station. Of course, as you would expect from a dock, it offers a wide range of ports for monitors, networking, and additional peripherals. Alongside the upgrade to Thunderbolt five, there is also support for HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1, allowing higher bandwidth and resolution alongside a 2.5 gigabit wired network, all via a single usb-C connection, delivering up to 300W of power in case future laptops need even more. might also be wondering about the smart bit. Well, Dell have released a whole range of smart docks in 2025, which allow it teams to remotely manage the devices increasingly important for distributed teams and focuses on cyber security. Pulse wise, the Pro Max 16 and 18 both feature a 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, dual Thunderbolt five ports, an SD card reader, and the option for a smart card reader on the left hand side. And on the right hand side, we have a lock slot, two Usb-a ports, a single Thunderbolt four port, and an audio jack. Dell continue to innovate even on the smaller parts, with the usb-C ports being modular and attached by screws rather than soldered. So if one is damaged, it's replaceable rather than the whole motherboard needed replacement. Reducing future e-waste. before we finish talking about the spec options, we have to mention one more option coming soon. Dell are going to offer the first mobile workstation with a discrete AI chip. This dedicated Qualcomm AI 100 inference card in place of a traditional graphics card, means you won't be running SolidWorks or a tier on laptop specified with this option, but the 64GB of dedicated memory accommodates when in larger AI tasks locally, rather than on the cloud. For engineering users, the best choice will remain powering Nvidia's latest RTX Pro Blackwell graphics cards with up to 24GB of dedicated memory. Ideal for complex design, visualization, and GPU accelerated simulation tools, while also being a strong choice for smaller AI data sets. We only had a matter of days before filming to test production units of these systems. So we're showing a comparison of a single high end spec laptop dating from 2021, smack bang in the middle of our recommended 3 to 5 year replacement cycle, versus an equivalent from the new Dell Pro Max laptop range for a range of engineering tasks. First, for CAD modeling, we test how long it takes to rebuild a relatively complex part with multiple patterns of holes. This is mainly single threaded in nature, as one feature has to be rebuilt before the next parametrically related feature can be calculated. Note we manually time these with a stopwatch as performance evaluation in SolidWorks usually reports over optimistic timings versus when the mouse control is actually returned to the user, which is what we measured on the precision 7760. This takes 48 seconds, while the new Dell Pro Max 18 plus takes just 25 seconds, almost half the time a big in which will add up during the working day. Next on to assemblies. While the latest version of SolidWorks have enhanced the way they deal with complex assemblies to take most advantage of these enhancements, the latest hardware is required. Opening this massive telescope assembly just takes 52 seconds in the new optimized resolve mode on the new Dell Pro Max 80 plus, while the precision 7760 from 2021 takes over one minute and 30s The biggest driver behind these CAD performance improvements are the new Intel Ultra CPUs. So what about the new RTX Pro graphics? How much better a day? In this test, we used a tool to automate rotating a complex model and recorded frames per second as a representation of how smooth interacting with such models can be. In SolidWorks, in shaded with edges mode. With real view graphics enabled, we saw around a 45% increase in rotation performance on the new RTX Pro 4000. Blackwell. When compared to the frame rate of the older RTX 4000 graphics card, Another area that is heavily accelerated by the graphics card is visualization. In programs such as SolidWorks, visualize, and Key Shot. These tools are highly parallel and can run on the thousands of Cuda cores present on these graphics cards, which also feature dedicated ray traced calls to accelerate rendering and tensor cores to accelerate AI tasks such as image denoising. this test model we are rendering in SolidWorks, visualize at 4K resolution 500 passes and with the AI denoiser active, this takes just 38 seconds to complete on the new Pro Max 80 plus, compared with over two minutes on the four year old precision 7760. This huge performance leap allows you to get task completed faster, more iterations generated, and it also opens up the possibility to generate animations in very short time frames. Next we'll take a look at simulation. While there are tools in us similarly applications that are GPU accelerated, we're going to focus on the SolidWorks simulation and flow simulation for this video, which run on CPU based solvers. Our SolidWorks simulation is a model with plenty of interactions, which can be more demanding in terms of CPU utilization. This just takes three minutes to complete on the Pro Max 18 plus laptop, down from around five minutes on the four year old machine. And finally, SolidWorks flow simulation among the most multithreaded tasks we see in the SolidWorks portfolio, the new Dell Pro Max takes just 28 minutes to complete this complex airflow simulation of a mask, surprisingly close to the equivalent desktop CPU and a full 45 minutes faster than the 2021 laptop. It's also where we see the most difference versus the previous generation Intel CPUs. This is most likely down to the improvements Intel made to their 16 efficiency cores in the latest generation Core Ultra CPUs, backing up the primary eight power cores. When it comes to tasks such as this. So to sum up, the new Dell Pro Max 16 and 18 plus are worthy successors to the venerable Dell Precision brand, with massive upgrades to the CPU and graphics card supported by an all new chassis designed with upgraded cooling, with usability and performance taking up another level for a wide range of engineering applications, further narrowing the gap between desktop and mobile workstations. If you need portability, you need not compromise on performance for the vast majority of tasks.