Why the GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q makes sense

Simple. Lower power draws for thin laptops. Going by the new XPS 13 and the XPS 15 (2-in-1) 9575 featured at CES 2018, the vanilla XPS 15 is also expected to shed some weight and thickness making an already thin and light notebook even more portable. The XPS 15 9560 featured a GTX 1050 so it is obvious that the successor would feature a slightly more powerful GPU but the reduced thickness can complicate the thermals resulting in excessive throttling. Therefore, it makes sense to go for a Max-Q design in such a case to alleviate some of the throttling concerns. NVIDIA Max-Q GPUs are rated at TDPs ranging between 34 to 46W with about a 10-15% performance hit compared to their non-Max-Q counterparts. The Max-Q implementation also helps brings down the fan noise level to 40 dBA making it on par with that of the XPS 15 (2-in-1) 9570.



From the looks of it, the GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q seems to be most probable option. Azor had earlier denied the possibility of a GTX 1060 Max-Q. The implementation of the GTX 1050 Ti Max-Q also brings the GPU performance inline with the integrated Radeon RX Vega M GL in the XPS 15 (2-in-1). Additionally, surface temperatures can be kept under check with the help of the new GORE thermal insulation.



What we know of the XPS 15 9570 so far

There are not too many specifics available at this point. Rest assured, the XPS 15 9570 will feature an 8th generation hexa-core Intel 'Coffee Lake' H CPU. Frank Azor himself had confirmed earlier that they were waiting for Intel to ship the 8th generation H parts. The options could range from the Core i5-8300H to the Core i7-8850H offerings that fall in the 45W TDP range. The unlocked Core i9-8950HK is also a theoretical possibility but don't get your hopes high on that as the purported base performance gains over the Core i7 offerings would be in single digit percentages at best. RAM will top out at 32 GB similar to the XPS 15 9560 and Azor confirmed that there will not be a 64 GB option.