Dell Pro Max AI PC: A New Contender in AI Laptops
It appears that every new laptop has some sort of AI feature. But with so many Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm chips providing similar levels of AI performance, it's becoming difficult to differentiate what exactly makes one distinct. Dell may have a solution with its new Pro Max AI PC.
What Differentiates the Dell Pro Max AI PC?
Dell is not just adding a typical AI-speeding chip. They're all out. The company says the Pro Max AI PC is the laptop with an "enterprise-grade discrete NPU." That's a bold claim, and it's backed by a Qualcomm Cloud AI 100 PC Inference card.
So what does this fancy-pants card bring to the table? Dell states it's loaded with:
- 32 special AI cores
- A hefty 64GB of memory
Dell believes that this behemoth can chomp on Large Language Models (LLMs) of a substantial size of 30 billion parameters all the way up to a gigantic 109 billion parameters. That is some serious AI heavy lifting for a laptop!
What Else Do We Know (and Not Know)?
Dell isn't spilling the price beans just yet, but we do know this mobile workstation-grade computer will land on store shelves sometime later this year. They're not being terribly forthcoming about the full spec list, but sneak peeks from promo shots provide a few clues:
- Expect a screen of 15.6 inches or more – lots of screen real estate.
- A full-sized keyboard with a number pad on the right-hand side is a welcome productivity addition.
- Connectivity is strong, with a selection of ports including:
- Two Thunderbolt 5 ports
- One USB Type-C port
- Two USB Type-A ports
- One HDMI port
- A 3.5mm audio jack
- An Ethernet port
- Security and convenience are not overlooked either, with a SmartCard Reader and what looks to be a full-size SD card reader.
It seems Dell is taking a bet that by offering an actual expert and high-performance AI module, the Pro Max AI PC will find its own niche in the increasingly dense market for AI laptops. We'll hear more soon before launch, but it's certainly worth watching for serious AI capabilities on the move.
