Dell unveils Pro Max 16 Plus laptop with Discrete NPU: 5 things to know

Dell launches the Pro Max 16 Plus with an enterprise-grade discrete NPU, powered by the Qualcomm AI 100 PC Inference Card, bringing datacenter-level inferencing capabilities directly to a mobile workstation.

The workstation features a dual-NPU architecture with 64GB of dedicated AI memory, enabling high-fidelity FP16 performance and support for very large AI models — up to roughly 120 billion parameters — all processed locally on-device.

On-device inferencing removes dependence on the cloud, offering real-time AI performance, lower latency, better reliability in offline or air-gapped environments, and complete data sovereignty for sensitive workflows.

Industries such as healthcare, finance, government, engineering, and research benefit most, as the device allows secure diagnostics, confidential analytics, fraud detection, legal document handling, robotics simulations, and real-time computer-vision tasks without sending data off-device.

Dell positions the Pro Max 16 Plus as a new class of portable AI workstation, emphasizing predictable cost (no cloud inference fees), strong privacy, Windows/Linux flexibility, and the ability to deliver “edge server power in a backpack.”