Dell Pro Max 16 Plus improves upon almost everything about the Precision 7680

The long-running Precision series is now in the rear view mirror to make way for the new Dell Pro series of professional-oriented laptops and mobile workstations. The higher-end Dell Pro Max 16 Plus is now shipping worldwide as a replacement to the last year's Precision 7680 and, unlike the recent Dell 16 Plus, the new model carries notable improvements over its predecessor to be more than just a name change.

As detailed in our review of the Pro Max 16 Plus, the model is much faster than previous generation options thanks to the new Arrow Lake-HX CPU and Blackwell GPU. The more interesting aspects of the system, however, lie beyond the processors as Dell has made several changes to the chassis that add up to significant improvements. CAMM2 RAM, for example, has returned to support up to a massive 256 GB of memory while the proprietary DGFF graphics card itself is removable and can be replaced or upgraded with a Qualcomm AI 100 Inference Card. The latter can transform the Pro Max 16 Plus into a mobile powerhouse for local inferencing of large AI models should users have no need for an Nvidia Pro Blackwell GPU.

In terms of repairability, the USB-C ports are now modular and separate from the main board to make replacements easier and cheaper should the ports break or become loose from overuse. This sustainability feature is expected to appear on more Dell laptops in the near future with the potential to include more modular ports beyond just USB-C.

Even the AC adapter has been revised to be slimmer and more capable than before. The Pro Max 16 Plus is one of the only laptops to ship with a universal 280 W USB-C AC adapter to replace the 240 W barrel AC adapter that shipped with the older Precision 7680 series.

There are numerous smaller changes as well including new 120 Hz OLED and 8 MP webcam options that weren't available on the outgoing model.