pro max 18 plus Your Visceras？Analysis and Speculation on the DELL Pro Max 18 Plus for the Year 2025, Part 4

[song_1118]

 

After the analysis and prediction of "Your History," "Your Name," "Your Beauty," and "Your Body" by DELL Pro Max 18 Plus, it is now "Your Visceras." Well, the correct wording should be "your parts," but in order to maintain continuity and personification, we still chose this "clickbait" style of wording.

 

Internal layout
The layout of the previous generation
The internal layout of DELL Precision 7770/7780 is as follows, with little difference between the two layouts except for WLAN. 7770 is CNVio, and 7780 is M.2 2230:

 

The following is a layout diagram of 7770:

 

The following image shows 7770, with the battery, CAMM, and SSD removed:

 

Continue to disassemble and remove the cooling system including the two fans:

 

Remove DGFF graphics card:

 

The rest is the motherboard with integrated CPU, shaped like the letter "L" rotated 90 degrees to the left:

 

New layout
In serial 3, the author speculates that:
The width (W) of the DELL Pro Max 18 Plus body is 406mm;
The depth (D) of the DELL Pro Max 18 Plus body is 304mm;
Using this value as the width and height of the body plane projection of DELL Pro Max 18 Plus (hereinafter referred to as "Max 18"), the following figure is obtained:

 

The light green area in the picture is the planar projection of the 7780 body;
The black area in the picture represents the motherboard of Max 18, which has widened edges and increased longitudinal dimensions based on the 7780 motherboard to accommodate an 18 inch 16:10 body ratio;
The black diagonal area in the picture: the projection of the Max 18's body plane;
Multiple orange boxes on the left and right sides of the picture: the ports on the left and right sides of the Max 18's body;
The two orange boxes at the bottom of the picture represent the two speakers of Max 18;
The two areas with red squares in the bottom left corner of the picture: the small one is the SD card reader, and the larger one is the SC card reader;
The area marked with Battery in the lower part of the picture is naturally the built-in battery;
The positions of the three M.2 2280 SSD slots: Compared to 7780, the positions have been moved down to accommodate the lower edge of the new Max 18 motherboard;
The position of the M.2 2280 SSD slot on the main hard drive may also move downwards a certain distance, but it may remain unchanged.
As for the positions of WLAN cards, WALN cards, and SIM cards: I think they are also similar, and may move downwards a little or remain basically unchanged.

Overall, Max 18 inherits the main layout of 7770/7780;
The new Max 18 motherboard has widened sides and increased longitudinal dimensions, ultimately forming a shape similar to the letter "U" or more like the letter "C" rotated 90 degrees to the left, instead of the previous 7770/7780 motherboard's shape similar to the letter "L" rotated 90 degrees to the left.
The widening of the Max 18 motherboard on both sides is understandable, as it is for the new layout of ports on both sides;
But is the increase in its longitudinal size just a simple "facelift" operation to adapt to an 18 inch 16:10 ratio body?
However, this is not the case. Please continue to read the following article for the author's further analysis and speculation.

 

CAMM2
The problem with the previous generation
Max 18's memory is determined to use CAMM2 and support up to 256GB.
The memory of the previous generation Precision 7780 adopts a design that takes into account both CAMM and DIMM, which has the problem of trade-offs. The author has already discussed in detail in the "How to Solo Dance with Dual Computers? Comparative Evaluation of DELL Precision 7780&7770 Mobile Workstation", and will not elaborate further here.
CAMM is a new generation of memory module independently developed by DELL, which has now been recognized by Intel and JEDEC standard associations, giving birth to CAMM2.

 

Classification of CAMM2
There are currently two types of CAMM2: CAMM2 and LPCAMM2.
LPCAMM2- The full name is LPDDR5 CAMM2, which refers to the second generation of low-power DDR5 CAMM. It is mainly used for laptops that pursue performance but also lightweight and energy-saving.
Some manufacturers are preparing or already adopting some new models, such as Lenovo ThinkPad P1 Gen 7 which uses LDCAMM2.
Compared to the CAMM used on 7770/7780, its projection area is much smaller, as shown in the following figure:

 

The shape of CAMM2 is shown in the following figure:

 

The comparison between CAMM2 and LPCAMM2 is shown in the following figure:

 

CAMM2 is currently mainly used for high-performance laptops and the new generation of desktop computers. Desktop motherboards that support CAMM2 memory have been launched in multiple models, such as the MSI motherboard shown below, which is the world's first motherboard to support CAMM2 memory. The tentative name is "Z790 PROJECT ZERO PLUS CAMM2", and it only supports the use of CAMM2 memory:

 

According to JEDEC regulations, the number of layers of PCBs used for LPCAMM2 and CAMM2 is as follows:
JEDEC recommends using a 10 layer PCB for LPDDR5;
DDR5 comes in specifications such as 10, 12, 14, and 16 layers, depending on the specific requirements of the memory module manufacturer.

 

Size of CAMM2
According to JEDEC regulations, the length of LPCAMM2 and CAMM2 is 78mm, while the width ranges from 29.6mm to 68mm;
The LPCAMM2 module is 29.6mm;
There are three widths of CAMM2, namely 40mm, 57mm, and 68mm.
As can be seen, in addition to LPCAMM2 having only one specification size, CAMM2 has four specifications and sizes. The specific specifications and sizes are shown in the following figure:

 

That is, CAMM2 has four types: AXXX, BXXX, CXXX, and DXXX, all with a length of 78mm, and widths of 40mm, 57mm, and 68mm;
Among them, A/B/CXXXX belong to DDR5 DC (dual channel dual channel), AXXX and CXXX have dimensions of 78 x 40mm, and BXXX has dimensions of 78 x 68mm, which is the largest among all CAMM2;
Only DXXX belongs to DDR5 SC (single channel single channel) and has only one size: 78 x 57mm.

I believe that with the passage of time, cost control, production scale, and public recognition, the popularity of CAMM2 will come naturally - at least on high-performance laptops produced by major manufacturers.

Alright, with the introduction of CAMM2 above, the analysis and speculation below will have a basis and foundation.

 

DC or SC?
DC stands for dual channel, SC stands for single channel;
Based on the above CAMM2 data, the author has a question after analysis:
Is the DELL Pro Max 18 Plus equipped with DDR5 DC CAMM2?
Or should we use DDR5 SC CAMM2?;

Considering that Max18 needs to balance the thickness of the body not too thick, the controllable memory cost, and the maximum memory capacity that can support 256GB, the author abandons the above questions and believes that:
The DELL Pro Max 18 Plus must use DDR5 DC CAMM2 module.

Why is that so?
Please refer to the following figure, which is the author's speculation on the layout of the CPU and CAMM2 of Max 18.

 

The above figure shows:
Firstly, on the Max 18 motherboard, the position of the CPU is generally the same as that of the 7770/7780. However, due to the different shape of the Intel Arrow Lake HX from the 14th generation Intel Core HX, the CPU position of the Max 18 will be moved downwards to ensure sufficient installation space - this is one of the reasons for the increase in the vertical size of the Max 18 motherboard;
Then, the space below the CPU position on the Max 18 motherboard will use a DC CAMM 2 interface, which is significantly different and much larger in size compared to the CAMM interface of the previous generation 7770/7780- this is the second reason for the increase in the vertical size of the Max 18 motherboard.
The following figure shows the CAMM interface on 7780:
014

 

Finally, the third reason is that if the Max 18 uses DDR5 SC CAMM2 modules, it must be stacked and two DDR5 SC CAMM2 modules must be installed at the same time to achieve a maximum memory capacity of 256GB - because a single DDR5 SC CAMM2 module can currently only reach a maximum of 128GB - and using a stacking method will increase the thickness of the Max 18's body.

 

Installation of CAMM2
The author carefully studied JEDEC's information and found that:
CAMM2 is not only divided into two categories: LPDDR5 and DDR5, with four different shapes and sizes, but also single channel and dual channel. As a result, there are also various motherboard interfaces and connectors.
Additional information: LPDDR5 CAMM2 is dual channel.

Please take a look at the following two pictures, which were just translated into Chinese by the author based on JEDEC's information. The pictures provide a detailed introduction to how LPDDR5 CAMM2, DDR5 DC CAMM2, and DDR5 SC CAMM2 are installed and what error prevention design is used.

016

 

If you still don't understand after looking at the two pictures above, you can look at the picture below. The text is relatively simple, so I didn't translate it into Chinese. Just remember:
L - is the positioning hole used by LPDDR5 CAMM2;
D - is the positioning hole used for DDR5 DC CAMM2;
S - is the positioning hole used for DDR5 SC CAMM2.

 

Namely:
L and D can share the CAMM connection port, depending on whether the motherboard supports it, but only one type can be selected - the motherboard and connector, which will be protected against errors through different positioning columns;
And those marked with S can only install DD5 SC CAMM2 and can be stacked.
So, as shown in the following figure, two DDR5 SC CAMM2 modules are installed on the motherboard simultaneously, using a stacked placement design:
018

 

So, if the DELL Pro Max 18 Plus needs to ensure that the body is not too thick and achieve 256GB of memory, then the DDR5 DC CAMM2 module must be chosen.
If choosing DDR5 SC CAMM2 module, only by stacking two DDR5 SC CAMM modules can 256GB be achieved, which will affect the control of Max 18's body thickness.

At this point, the author speculates on the layout of the motherboard shape, ports, slots, hard drive, and battery components of the DELL Pro Max 18 Plus as shown in the following figure:
019

 

The layout of the CPU and CAMM2 of DELL Pro Max 18 Plus, as well as the speculation on selecting DDR5 DC CAMM2, are shown in the following figure:
020

 

Is that really the case?
Looking forward to the official release of verification soon.
Next, in "Serial 5", the author will analyze and speculate on the GPU, three fan cooling system, and performance of the DELL Pro Max 18 Plus.
Coming soon!