Dell Pro Max 14 Premium

The mobile workstation previously known as Precision benefits from superb build quality, solid performance and Thunderbolt 5

- SASHA MULLER

PRICE As reviewed, £3,533 (£4,240 inc VAT) from dell.​com

The Dell Pro Max 14 Premium is the first we've seen of the renamed Precision family, and it brings with it a new, compact design: Dell claims this is the world's smallest footprint 14in mobile workstation. The chiselled metal chassis still includes high-end cooling, opening the door to fast CPUs and powerful discrete GPUs.

You'll need to open your wallet nice and wide, too, as the starting price for the Pro Max 14 Premium is just shy of the £2,000 mark - and that only includes a Core Ultra 7 255H processor, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, a 256GB SSD, Intel Arc graphics and a 14in, non-touch 1,920 x 1,200 display. The fully loaded model here is £4,240, which crucially includes a Core Ultra 9 285H, 64GB of RAM, Nvidia RTX Pro 2000 graphics and a tandem OLED touchscreen (the “tandem” refers to dual OLED layers, adding to brightness, efficiency and lifespan, according to manufacturers).

Style and substance

Looks-wise, this laptop is gorgeously understated. The straight lines and chamfered base elegantly ease into soft, rounded edges. And if you're worried about robustness, Dell has put it through the wringer with MIL-STD-810H testing. The base and lid are astonishingly solid, and there's only a slight give in the display.

The big news here for connectivity is the presence of Thunderbolt 5. Two Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports sit on the laptop's left-hand edge, and these offer 80Gbits/sec of bidirectional bandwidth - double that of the two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports on the other flank. You also get a microSD card reader and a 3.5mm headset port. There's no USB-A, nor a physical Ethernet socket, but wireless connectivity is served by Intel's WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 BE201 card.