Dell Pro Max 16/18 Plus (2025 model) pre-release discussion — MB16250, MB18250

[pickwick]

2 hours ago, Aaron44126 said:

1. If you get an iGPU-only system, you will be able to use the HDMI port and it will be attached to the iGPU.

So, with iGPU and dGPU the table in the Dell docs mean HDMI is connected to dGPU only? I would love to have everythign connected and being usable by iGPU and only offload work of interest to dGPU, if at all.

[Aaron44126]

42 minutes ago, pickwick said:

So, with iGPU and dGPU the table in the Dell docs mean HDMI is connected to dGPU only? I would love to have everythign connected and being usable by iGPU and only offload work of interest to dGPU, if at all.

 

I think the docs are right with regard to this. I haven't tested this system, but that is how prior generations behaved (Precision 7000 line starting with 7X30, when Dell switched to using DGFF GPUs).

 

If you want everything attached to the iGPU, plug your displays in via the USB-C ports, either via a dock or directly.

  

16 hours ago, pickwick said:

I'm having two external displays, shared by a business and private laptop. One display has a free HDMI and the other one DVI-D. The Dell has native HDMI in theory, which would leave me with an additional DVI-D to be supported. There seem to exist adapters form thunderbolt/USB-C to DVI-D for small prices. I only need to support 1920*1200. Those adapters should work, shouldn't they?

 

USB-C to HDMI or USB-C to DVI (...or even USB-C → HDMI → DVI...) should work fine, and attach to the iGPU.

 

If it were me, I'd just use an USB-C → HDMI adapter as that will have more potential for future use, and then connect it to your monitor with an HDMI→DVI cable if necessary.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

to the best of my knowledge when optimus puts dGPU to sleep iGpu will function through hdmi port,
optimus  is not dell's software its nvidia's software designed specifically to switch between the two,
if hdmi is not working it has to be something else preventing the port from being used.

[Aaron44126]

1 hour ago, MyPC8MyBrain said:

to the best of my knowledge when optimus puts dGPU to sleep iGpu will function through hdmi port,
optimus  is not dell's software its nvidia's software designed specifically to switch between the two,
if hdmi is not working it has to be something else preventing the port from being used.

 

This is the case with most displays, but in these systems, the HDMI port is hard-wired to the dGPU and not the iGPU. (Unless you bought an iGPU-only system and it has the DGFF spacer card installed, whose purpose is to basically route the signal from the HDMI port to the iGPU.) So, connecting a display to the HDMI port will always cause the dGPU to engage.

[pickwick]

Thanks so far, that was pretty helpful already!

 

Does anyone do AI-stuff with the dGPU and if so, which? I've read a lot about that 8 GiB of VRAM are most likely not enough and lots of pre-built models seem to have the 3K with 12 GiB RAM as well. That should be almost as fast as 5070 Ti, which can be found in many high end gaming laptops, but more like an entry-level card. 🙂

 

Does anyone has any experience with the RTX PRO 3K? Are 12 GiB of VRAM reasonable enough or just a waste of a few hundreds of Dollars most likely?

[MyPC8MyBrain]

https://ollama.com/library/llama3.1

Minimal Requirements for Llama 3.1 8B (Quantized)
VRAM (GPU Memory)    ≥ 8 GB VRAM
System RAM    ≥ 16 GB

 

If you are interested in the larger, more powerful Llama 3.1 variants, 
the requirements scale up dramatically, moving them out of the range of most standard PCs:
Llama 3.1 70B    ≈ 35 - 50 GB VRAM
Llama 3.1 405B    ≥ 150 GB VRAM

Hardware support
https://docs.ollama.com/gpu

Compute capability (CC)
https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus

[pickwick]

On 11/3/2025 at 5:53 PM, Aaron44126 said:

[...](Unless you bought an iGPU-only system and it has the DGFF spacer card installed, whose purpose is to basically route the signal from the HDMI port to the iGPU.)[...]

Reading about that spacer card: Is there any chance that when starting with iGPU only, one is later to upgrade to a dGPU?

[Aaron44126]

13 minutes ago, pickwick said:

Reading about that spacer card: Is there any chance that when starting with iGPU only, one is later to upgrade to a dGPU?

 

The answer is yes, but.

 

(And sorry I haven't been following all of the ins and outs of this system, so my answer is a bit incomplete. I'm basing this off of experience with prior systems.)

 

Dell laptops are just a collection of parts, and you can swap out parts to change the system from one configuration to another. You just have to determine what parts you need. Dell doesn't "force" any configuration to be permanent with motherboard/BIOS settings or lockouts or anything like that.

 

So, you can put in a dGPU. It's not just a matter of dropping the card in, though, you'll need other parts too.

• An appropriate heathsink
• Possibly, the DGFF interposer connector things (not sure if the iGPU spacer card ones can be reused; Precision 7X70 and 7X80 had that card attaching to different ports on the motherboard)
• Possibly, a DGFF power cable? (Not sure if they're still using those; they were when the first DGFF cards rolled out.)
• Finally, and I'm also not sure if they are still doing this either, but with Precision 7670 and 7680 they had a "thin chassis" version and a "performance chassis" version, and the dGPU heatsink for the more beefy GPU models would only fit in the "performance" chassis version. So you'll need to confirm that there is either only one size chassis for your system, or that your chassis is appropriately sized for the dGPU+heatsink that you want to install.

Dell won't sell you these individual parts in most territories. You'll have to look at eBay, PartsPeople, etc.

[pickwick]

Quote

The answer is yes, but.

Reads more like a practical "no" to me, thought more about as easy as replacing RAM after in the worst case bying the parts at Dell. 🙂 But thanks anyway!

 

By the way: How to I give thumps-up to posts here? Don't see anything.

[Aaron44126]

39 minutes ago, pickwick said:

By the way: How to I give thumps-up to posts here? Don't see anything.

 

Unfortunately the thumbs up icon is white, and on the default light theme, you can't see it. It is in the bottom right corner of every post, way off to the right of the "Quote" option. You should be able to hover the mouse around and find it, or switch to a different theme using the "Theme" dropdown at the very bottom of any page.

[MyPC8MyBrain]

48 minutes ago, pickwick said:

By the way: How to I give thumps-up to posts here? Don't see anything.

[yslalan]

Just placed an order for the Pro Max 16 Plus, with the U9-285HX, RTX Pro 4000, and a 4K OLED display. I opted for the lowest configuration for RAM and NVMe storage (16GB CSoDIMM and 512GB). The quick access door, the highest configuration for the palm rest, and the long-lifecycle battery option are selected.

This year, the long-lifecycle option is interesting; Dell provides rapid charge for this option, which was absent on the 7680

 

Is there a recommendation for upgrading the CSoDIMM module?

[SvenC]

I use 2x Kingston CSODIMM 32 GB DDR5-6400 with no problems - bought them for about 110€ per stick, now 180€. But still cheaper than buying from Dell. 64GB is enough for me. Not sure how many sellers are offering 2x 64 GB CSoDimm - IIRC Crucial announced that.

 

[pickwick]

23 hours ago, yslalan said:

Just placed an order for the Pro Max 16 Plus[...]

What's your estimated shipping time into which country?

[yslalan]

10 hours ago, pickwick said:

What's your estimated shipping time into which country?

ETA Nov 17th, China mainland

 

Another reference: I received the Dell 16 Premium CTO on November 6th. It was ordered on October 24th, with a 3-day build time and 2 weeks of shipping to Canada.

[Easa]

I must say that the Dell is now blazing fast with building these systems. Guess its the non existent quality control 🤣 Received mine in like 2 weeks?

 

Back in 2014 when I have ordered my M4800, it was like 4-5 weeks of waiting IIRC. 

[yslalan]

4 hours ago, Easa said:

Guess its the non existent quality control

I agree.

Dell has revised the ETA from Nov 17th to Nov 12th; the overall speed is impressive, and the building time is even less than one day.

 

[Easa]

Oh guys, and FYI, a friend of mine has received the ThinkPad P16 G3 in the same basic config (285HX / RTX4000) that I have, we are currently doing benchmarks to compare. Will post the results later so you know how our machine fares against the Lenovo. 

 

So far it looks that we are about 26% better in the gaming / combined CPU and GPU performance (measured with 3D Mark Time Spy). Measured RAM latency on my machine is @ 108ns, on the Lenovo we are @ 151ns. Quite a difference. 

[yslalan]

42 minutes ago, Easa said:

RAM latency on my machine is @ 108ns

Out of curiosity, are you using the one with the CAMM2 configuration?

[Easa]

11 minutes ago, yslalan said:

Out of curiosity, are you using the one with the CAMM2 configuration?

 

Nope, I have the standard 64GB 2x32 CSODIMM. 

[ebourg]

2 hours ago, Easa said:

Oh guys, and FYI, a friend of mine has received the ThinkPad P16 G3 in the same basic config (285HX / RTX4000) that I have, we are currently doing benchmarks to compare. Will post the results later so you know how our machine fares against the Lenovo. 

 

So far it looks that we are about 26% better in the gaming / combined CPU and GPU performance (measured with 3D Mark Time Spy). Measured RAM latency on my machine is @ 108ns, on the Lenovo we are @ 151ns. Quite a difference. 

 

You're comparing the ThinkPad P16 Gen 3 to the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus right?