From: "RobertB." 

Interesting. I think some of their retail machines in the US are pretty
inexpensive. They have a couple of cheapo entry-level models.


In article ,
 "Antti Kurenniemi"  wrote:

> Dell hasn't been cheap for a long time now. The last time I bought computers
> for my customer, HP was about 15% cheaper than Dell in similar specs. I
> don't know if their pricing is the same in the US, but here, they've gone
> nuts.
>
>
> Antti Kurenniemi
>
> "/m"  wrote in message
> news:8bqrd2l1fpvohgrv2fk41mc0nupi7ik3ml{at}4ax.com...
> >
> > http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33576
> >
> > ===
> > THE MAC PRO was unveiled at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference
> > (WDCC) a couple of days ago. It's a formidable system, based around a
> > two Intel Xeon 'Woodcrest' processor dual core system, similar to what
> > Dell is offering within the Dell Precision 490 range for small
> > businesses.
> >
> > We thought it would be interesting to compare pricing between similarly
> > specced systems from Dell and Apple, and were gobsmacked at the results
> > - this should be very good reading for Apple advocates after our
> > previous commentary, which discussed the poor showing from Apple at this
> > year's WDCC.
> >
> > Let's get the base specifications out of the way first, so it's clear
> > the systems are very similarly specified. Considering the recent Apple
> > move towards Intel architecture, the specs are almost indistinguishable:
> >
> > Dell base specs
> > -Dell Precision 490
> > --Graphics Card - 128MB PCIe nVidia Quadro NVS 285
> > --Memory - 1GB, DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz, ECC (2x512MB DIMMS)
> > --HDD - 160GB 7200RPM S-ATA
> > --Optical - 16X DVD+/-RW drive
> > --KB/Mouse - USB Entry Quietkey, Dell standard USB
> >    2-Button Optical Mouse
> > --Sound and Firewire- Onboard AC97 sound and 1394a Controller Card
> > --No monitor
> > --Three year onsite economy service & support
> >
> > Apple base specs
> > -Mac Pro
> > --NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT 256MB
> > --Memory - 1GB, DDR2 SDRAM 533MHz, ECC (2x512MB DIMMS)
> > --HDD - 160GB 7200RPM S-ATA
> > --Optical - Superdrive dual-layer DVD+/-RW drive
> > --KB/Mouse - Apple Keyboard and Apple Mighty Mouse
> > --Sound and Firewire - FireWire 800/400 and sound with
> >    various I/O inc. optical
> > --No monitor
> > --One year standard AppleCare
> >
> > Now let's take a look at different processor configurations and the
> > resulting pricing from the US stores.
> >
> > Dual Core Intel Xeon 2GHz x 2 (4MB shared L2 cache)
> > Dell: $2,086.00 (with a $200 discount for small business)
> > Apple: $2,124.00
> >
> > Dual Core Intel Xeon 2.66GHz x 2 (4MB shared L2 cache)
> > Dell: $2,866.00 (with a $200 discount for small business)
> > Apple: $2,424.00
> >
> > Dual Core Intel Xeon 3GHz x 2 (4MB shared L2 cache)
> > Dell: $3,686.00 (with a $200 discount for small business)
> > Apple: $3,224.00
> >
> > You can see Dell pips Apple by a tiny $38 for the 2GHz option, but then
> > is whipped into shape by Apple with a $442 saving on the 2.66GHz option
> > and a similarly large margin with the 3ghz processors - $462 per system.
> > It must be noted that the machine from Dell does have a three year
> > on-site warranty whereas the Apple has only the one year, but this is
> > less important to small businesses who have their own IT support, and
> > consumers who wish to get the cheapest deal - something Dell usually
> > wins hands down.
> >
> > This is quite incredible. Any major OEM has trouble matching pricing
> > with Dell, considering the massive volume discount Dell gets from Intel.
> > But Apple aren't only matching them on the lower specs, they're
> > thrashing them on the higher specced systems - relatively huge margins
> > of pricing difference.
> >
> > You have to wonder what sort of discounts Apple are getting from Intel,
> > and if this is why Dell is now holding hands with AMD. æ
> > ===
> >
> >
> > gobsmacked???
> >
> >  /m
>
>

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5