Dell MB18250

A monster workstation with a desktop CPU and a battery the size of a car battery. It's brilliant for heavy compute, terrible for travel, and priced like a used Honda.

The CPU is the absolute best right now, top of the charts, and paired with 64GB of RAM it'll chew through multi-threaded rendering and data analysis without breaking a sweat. The RTX PRO 3000 with 12GB GDDR7 is solid for CAD and machine learning, though it's not going to set gaming records. What surprised us is the storage situation: 1TB feels stingy on a machine with four M.2 slots and a price tag like this. You'll be adding drives before you finish installing your Adobe suite.

The Apple MacBook Pro M4 Max is the obvious rival, and it beats this Dell on screen quality, portability, and battery life while trading blows on CPU performance. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 and HP OMEN Transcend 14 are far more portable and better for gaming, but they can't touch the Dell's raw CPU muscle or RAM capacity. The Lenovo Legion 5i is a smarter buy if you want gaming and productivity without the workstation tax.

At $5,360 USD, this is not a value play. It's a tool for professionals who bill by the hour and need ISV-certified reliability. If you're a hobbyist or student, this is overkill. If you're a CAD engineer or data scientist, the ProSupport warranty through 2029 alone might justify the cost.

This is a desktop replacement that forgot it's supposed to be a laptop. The Dell Pro Max MB18250 packs a Core Ultra 7-265HX and RTX PRO 3000 Blackwell into an 18-inch chassis with a 280Wh battery, which is basically a UPS with a screen attached. The one thing to know: this is a no-compromise workstation for people who need serious compute and don't care about portability, battery life, or their wallet.

If you want something you can actually carry around, this isn't it. The compact score is one of the worst we've seen, and the battery alone weighs more than some ultrabooks. Go get a MacBook Pro M4 Max or a Zephyrus G14 instead.

Buy this if you need a portable workstation that will live on a desk 95% of the time and you value ISV certifications and ProSupport over everything else. It's a beast for CAD, rendering, and data work. For everyone else, there are better-balanced machines that won't require a forklift to move.