dual 5K

@zermelo The reason you're not finding that info is because there are very few laptops in the PC world that will run even a single 5K display, never mind two.  The only laptops I can think of where that would be possible are:

• Systems that have a modern discrete GPU and have that GPU directly wired to the display outputs rather than the Intel GPU being wired to the outputs, which is the much more common design.  The XPS 17 9700 can operate this way if you order it with an NVIDIA RTX GPU (not a GTX GPU) and you enable a BIOS option to give the NVIDIA GPU direct control of the outputs.
• Systems with the latest Intel's 10th Gen "Ice Lake" (not 10th Gen Comet Lake) or 11th Gen "Tiger Lake" CPU have a newer GPU that can support 5K resolution.  The XPS 13 9300 uses the former CPU, and the XPS 13 9310 uses the latter CPU.  But I don't know if either of those will support dual 5K.

But the vast majority of laptops in the PC world will be completely off the table for consideration here.

@zermelo Adding to my earlier reply, I didn't expressly say this, but no XPS 15 up through the 9500 model that is current as of this writing will run even a single 5K display.  The reason is that its outputs are controlled by the Intel GPU with no way of having them controlled by the NVIDIA GPU, and the Intel CPUs that it uses have old GPUs that don't support 5K resolution.  Intel initially added their new GPU only to the low power line of CPUs that are used in systems like the XPS 13 since those CPUs got a major architectural change, while the higher performance CPUs used in the XPS 15 are still on refreshes of a very old architecture now.  That will apparently be changing with the Core 11th Gen CPUs, where it seems Intel will finally be adding that new GPU even to its higher performance CPU models, but those models of Core 11th Gen haven't arrived yet, which means there's no XPS 15 model that uses them.

If you're willing to look at the XPS 15's only legitimate non-Apple competitor, that would be the ThinkPad X1 Extreme, which I own.  That system when ordered with an NVIDIA GPU has its display outputs wired to the NVIDIA GPU, so it should be able to run dual 5K displays.  I say "should" only because I have not personally tested this, nor seen confirmation from anybody who has, but based on my understanding of the system's design and the underlying technology available, it should work -- and Lenovo's spec sheet for the Gen 3 model that is current as of this writing specifically says it will work.  The "hybrid model" mentioned there means a model that has an NVIDIA GPU, as opposed to the one that uses only Intel "integrated" graphics.  And I happen to consider the X1 Extreme a superior system to the current XPS 15 anyway, for reasons I wrote up here .  That was based on the Gen 2 model, but not much changed for Gen 3 that matters.

Thank you!

That's surprising. I am switching from an employer using macbook pros to one using Dell XPS. I guess I'll have to downgrade both monitors, which is pretty sad.

I'm really surprised Dell isn't offering any high end product.

@zermelo Not sure what to tell you. Having a discrete GPU wired to the display outputs has negative consequences in terms of battery life, since it means the discrete GPU has to be running whenever an external display is attached, and some people use external displays while running on battery power.  That's why that design often isn't implemented.

As for Dell not making any "high end product", I already mentioned the XPS 13 and XPS 17, and that doesn't even get into the Precision 7000 Series systems for which Apple doesn't have any equivalent.  The XPS 17 and Precision 7000 Series systems will run an 8K 60 Hz display (like the one Dell makes), which no current Apple system will.  There's also the question of whether the ability to run 5K+ displays should be a major determination of whether a product counts as high end in the first place.  It's not as if there are very many 5K display models on the market to begin with, never mind how many total have been sold.

And it's not like Apple doesn't have its own shortcomings on specs.  The new M1 MacBook systems only support a single external display -- only the M1 Mac Mini supports 2 displays since it doesn't have a built-in display.  I would argue that it isn't reasonable to call a system a MacBook "Pro" if it can only run one external display.  Not very "Pro" to me.  And even the Air is a downgrade from the Intel-based Air in this regard.

macOS also still doesn't support DisplayPort MST to allow running display daisy chains.  The only way to run multiple displays from a Mac is through a Thunderbolt dock, adapter, or Thunderbolt daisy chain, and even then you're limited to 2 on a single output.  By comparison, it's common for PCs to be able to run 3-4 displays from a single port using DP MST or Thunderbolt.

As with many things in life, it depends on what you need.  There's no such thing as a perfect product.

Agreed wrt the new M1 macbooks unreasonably not supporting 2 monitors.

I have a 2 year old 15" macbook pro and that one worked well.

I guess I will try to get the 17", even though I'm not a big fan of those super large laptops.

Thanks.

@zermelo If it helps, the XPS 17 is about the same size as the 16" MBP thanks to the really thin bezel, and only an inch wider than the 2018 MBP 15" (and a quarter-inch deeper).  But remember, you'd have to get an XPS 17 9700 with an NVIDIA RTX GPU to have a shot at dual 5K displays.  A GTX GPU won't cut it since those systems don't have the BIOS option to have the NVIDIA GPU control the display outputs.  (And of course you have to go into the BIOS to enable that option.)

@zermelo I was wondering if you end up buying the 17 XPS laptop (9700) and if it worked. Do you have the full 5K resolution (5120 × 2880) on both displays? If yes, can you use the laptop screen as well?

I'm super interested because I'm in the same situation as you.

Cheers, Stevo