Dell vs. HP Servers?

Well... I guess its a boxers or briefs sort of question. I have been working with Compaq sooo long that I just know them, and what to expect. I have not seen any problems with the Compaq/HP changes. The new DLs sporting the HP logo are just as nice as the old ones, and now have this pretty blue light in the front. Push it, and a blue LED on the back lights. Shows you what server your messing with.

So, on a gut level, I go for Compaq/HP. Rolled out Dell workstations in one company I worked for, and had mixed results.

I don't know if you're buying servers in onesies/twosies or bulk. But if it's the latter, if you're working with an account exec then you might want to use the quality grumblings you've heard as leverage. If you can point the account exec to the online postings you've seen, maybe they can cut you a deal on the Dell machines.

Doesn't hurt to ask.

Since my old ocmpany purchased DELL servers, I've been using them wherever I go. For me, Dell servers just seem to run that much better then anyone else I've dealt with. If you pay the extra $250 for PREMIER SUPPORT it is worth it. You will never ever have to argue with some freshman phone support person again. If you are making a large purchase, you can usually get them to throw the support in. Dell's 4 hour response time has never failed me (even when called at 2am). The cost is also a great bonus. For me it's Dell and unless they really screw up, I will not look at anyone else for Servers and switches. (Desktops are another story).

I have both, PowerEdge and Proliant servers.

I never have any problem with anyone, Dell support is very good, but it is more expensive than HP.

Quality are almost the same, you should take a decision based only on price and support.

We use to use Dell. We use to use HP. We build our own from scratch now.

Reason: #1. We built 2 test servers to find out if we could build, maintain, service the hardware ourselves and whether the "build our own" performed as well. In all test cases, our "build our own" servers performed better, we less apt to go down, down time if they did was minimal compared to waiting for Dell or HP to do something.

We also went with AMD instead of Intel based processors. That had a dramtic effect on overall server reliability. We found AMD processor based servers with socket 462 boards to be far more stable than Intel processor P4 based.

The final result was an entire school district ALL schools with servers K through 12 were moved over to build our own.

I have been running a dual network of Dell and Compaq for the last 3 years and I have found that distinguishing between the two normally comes down to the detail surrounding the two approachs.

DELL servers are simply based on cost - from the flimsy plastics to the cheap build the touch and feel you get is nothing like a Compaq unit. The level of detail put in to a Compaq server is very evident and Insight Manager is much easier to use/get your head round then Dells Open Manage.

On price and service its a close call but I find HP a lot more flexible.

On parts and configurations I find Dell's - it will be there in 7 days and HP's pre 9am and very different story again [Might just be UK specific that] however all of these are just two different approachs to the same thing - Selling a server.

What has finally nailed it for us is the uptime - we have approximatley 2.5 times more call outs per Dell box then Compaq. Each call out consumes around 3 times as much time then a Compaq call out and we are talking comparative systems and solutions.

Ultimately the top-level choice has nothing in it - Dell, Compaq, Fujitsu - you name it they are all servers but if my experiance is anything to go buy - get the Daddy of the pack when you can. It just makes your life easier in the long run and the brand with that might not always be your first choice.

For e-mail and web, try the new Iomega NAS storage severs, installs in minutes, cool design, huge capacity for storage and file serving...it ROCKS!!! try their website: www.iomega.com

Cheers!

Well where I have been working we have 7 dell power edge 2650's and they have been great servers. We have used dell support and we have had a great response with them anytime we had a problem. Example, we ordered a new 2650 and it came with the mounting plates warped and unusable since it would not sit in our racks. I Made a phone call to dell and we had another complete server on the way with in a few hours. We had the new server the next day and boxed up the old one and back she went. I have worked it Compaq but not on the server side, but as desktops they STINK.

I think though overall it comes down to the big GREEN and how much you have to spend. I say if you want to get the best deal call up dell get a price quote then call HP and do a quote from them and then bang one off the other and see who will budge with price first.

Just an idea.

We have an HP/Compaq-only server farm. It has run superbly, for many years with VERY few disk failures, or motherboard, or other component failures. The HP DL380's are our new standard - with redundant power supplies, ROMs, NICs, fans, etc...and with the built-in array controllers, you can set up RAID 1+0 or RAID5 arrays easily. They're working superbly.
I have heard from co-workers that Dell's web site occasionally mis-lables patches - i.e. the IT staff download a server patch, and apply it, and it blue-screens the server - then they call Dell, and Dell says that the posted patch was for a DIFFERENT product, and Dell then apologizes for the inconvenience! That's not good, in my view.
I also know IT staff who run IBM hardware, and have absolutely NOTHING nice to say about the IBM hard disks - some have said they have replaced EVERY SINGLE hard disk in their server famrs over time - so there seems to be an on-going quality control issue with IBM hard disk sub-systems, based on cooments from other IT pros.
HP is fairly pricey, but you can see the quality when you open up one of their servers - all tool-less access and servicing. The quality IS in the detail.

I agree that it comes down to cost. I have both Dell and HP/Compaq servers and both are excellent choices. However, when it comes down to cost, Dell has been lower each time.

I inherited a mix of IBM E-servers, Dell and HP/Compaq servers when I took my current network manager position. In short, give me Dell anyday. Performance, support, maintainability, DELL.

We ahve both in our environment and we much prefer the HPs. Smart Array controllers are adefinite advantage. Management is better with Systems Insight Manager, providing online dirver, utility and firmware updates and the ability to push them from SIM. Versions are kept up to date automatically and will aply the correct versions for the server being maanged. HP is an innovator, Dell is a follower.

I recently purchased two HP DL380 G3 servers to setup a W2003 cluster. The servers were very easy to setup with HP's Insite Manager. They have been up for about six months without any problems. I also have two Compaq 1850R servers that have been on for over four years without a single problem. They seem to be real work horses!

I started in this biz on the the hardware side, so I can offer my perspective in this respect.

As far as design and construction - no comparison - Compaq/HP takes the lead. Dell servers resembles a modified desktop system, but look inside any Compaq and you will see that this is a server built for service. The system board layout, superior airflow design, access to replaceable components, everything.

Something else I've noticed, all specs being equal, Dell will not perform as well as Compaq. Dell has a tendency to achieve their reliability through essentially "underclocking" the system, whereas the CQ/HP will give you the horsepower you bought with the reliability given through design.

My 2 cents worth....

Compaq for me. I've worked with Dell before, granted this was about 5 years ago, but Compaq seems to give me better service in regards to getting a server or part here quickly. Part of that could be the assistance of our local reseller that we go through.

We do support for medical offices (usually fairly small networks), and have always gone with Compaq/HP servers. As a previous post stated, the fact that you can get help from a local reseller and not have to deal with corporate is a real asset! Adding drives to the SmartArray controller is a snap!
Having said that, some of our clients get their hardware from someone else, and I have worked with quite a few Dell PowerEdge servers and have not noticed any issues. If that is what you are familiar with, that may be your best bet.

Hope this helps!

I have a lot of god experiencies with the DELL people, but I?m sorry, I can't said the same from HP.
We have a lot of support calls with COMPAQ, after HP bought CPQ, we have more problems, their business is only on sale products, but they dont want to support it.
With Dell is very different, the service and support is excellent, 2:00 AM, and the could find a replace for failed memory for a PE4400, and changed it in 2 hours, thats service and support

We used Dell for a while but for the past year we are only buying IBM Xseries boxes because of chip kill memory, etc. They have preformed better than expected!!!

Personally I would go with Dell. We have about 3 times the Dell servers to HP servers. However I would say that the problems occuring are about 3 to 1 HP. Also I find that it is far easier to deal with Dell in terms of support. Had one particularly bad experience with HP that still eats at me, though I have to say for the most part HP has been good. Dell has been nothing but great.

IBM servers, IMHO, are more reliable than both HP and Dell -- but all things IBM are expensive.

Here at this shop we use Dell Servers exclusively. In 8 years we had 3 complete server crashes (and two of those three were on a single server). Considering the heavy use, I think Dell's are pretty good. Put it this way I think the servers they make are much better than their pc's are.

My company represents both companies within the smb market. I have installed numerous of each. I would recommend in your situation, to install the HP equipment. HP (formely Compaq) Insight Manager offers administrators the ability to monitor hardware remotely throught the use of a proven software platform. This can be a real asset when time is limited in reference to managing equipment on a day to day basis.

Tennyson

For a small to medium size company one of the most important issues must be the TCO. And if a server breaks down in any way it is absolutely essential that it can be put back into production as soon as possible since the cost otherwise can
be huge. A serious risk analysis has to be made before the server strategy and procurement is made.
Since Dell does not have a service organisation with spare parts in stock it rules them out as server supplier.
If you run a large company you might be able to afford backup solutions but in any other organisation it is absolutely crucial to have a reliable partner that will come to you?re assistance in an emergency situation and Dell is not.
Go for HP, IBM or any other well known partner that has a reliable service organisation that can help you out when you really need it.

I prefer the Compaq ones.
I a rack, you need to do quite a big effort if you want to take a dell server off the rack. And you don't notice if you're disconnecting cables at the same time. This is not the case with the Compaq ones.
Apart from that, the DELL doesn't seems to fail more that the other ones. It just takes more time to repair/get the right person on the (help)line

Well i agree with the support issue with Dell, apart from this Dell Power Edge server are quite good to do the jobs. When you look at HP (Compaq) servers they are much more reliable than Dell and definitely you can justify the Quality, reliability and support of HP with Dell.

Prasad

Dell = cheaper product, much cheaper in some cases. But you get what you pay for.

I was a Dell shop with PowerEdge 2600s and on down. Now, all HP, even the Racks.

My company resells servers as part of our equipment. We originally used HP servers but switched to Dell PowerEdge earlier this year. Overall, pricing and performance was about the same, but initial setup is what made the decision. We would buy a Proliant with RAID 5, extra memory, PS, and fans, and it would all come in separate boxes. So you spent a day assembling the server, configuring the hardware, and installing/updating the OS! A PowerEdge comes ready to use out of the box. Just apply latest OS updates and you're ready to go. Since I'm the entire IT department, it meant I could roll out Dell servers to the systems people twice as fast as HP. Just something to consider...

For 20 years I have worked with many computer vendors, but Compaq and HP were the best, but something happened, even before their incredibly stupid merger. Their support faded into the wind. I have used DELL as well, and there was a time when they were fair in their support methods, but this company has grown into something to be proud of. From Home support to Corporate support DELL treats the customer as their primary concern. This is what makes a company great. Their support has only increased. They took a phone poll with their customers to determine if they were happy with the change in their support methods (ie, moving them overseas), and they found customers were not happy, so they decided to change their support method back to the way it was. Now that is a company listening to its clients. HP/Compaq on the otherhand, they don't generally bend to anyones wishes, other than their own. If it is not in their interest you will have to make a pretty large purchase for them to come your direction, this is poor company service. This is my opinion.

Let's see... where to start

1) Dell 2600 arrives and the tape drive installed
by Dell doesn't show up on boot... Check the inside
expecting a loose cable and there's not even a SCSI cable there!

2) Lost multiple power supplies
3) Had 1 that wouldn't boot, so Dell service comes out... installs a new power supply in a system that has visible burnt traces on the motherboard.
Dell has now decided it must be lightning and we've been charged for board, CPU and 2 power supplies... 1 of which was the one their tech plugged in.

Last year I did a server consolidation project in my shop and looked at Dell, HP and IBM servers. In the end, I went with Dell. I have had only one issue (Bad Memory chip) with the Dell servers I purchased (7). Dealing with Dell on this project however was a nightmare. It took months to get the project completed and took me over a year to resolve all the licensing issues with the replication software I purchased through Dell. If I had it to do all over again, I would most definetely remain an HP shop.

I have supported different vendor server hardware over the last 17 years and now I provide engineering solutions for an enterprise level environment that requires 100% availability. I employ HP (Compaq) server product line, it has been my experience that HP by far provides a quality product for mission critical environments and excellent technical support when needed.

I have used both Dell and HP servers. I started out years ago using nothing but Dell servers; this decision was based primarily on cost with a emphasis on reliability and a long lifespan. Recently, I have started to use HP servers for the same reasons. One of the nice surprises that I had in store for me when I installed my first HP was how easy it was to service them. HP servers are by far better designed from a perspective of how easy it is to build one up or to modify an existing server. On the plus for Dell, their servers came completely assembled and ready to install; where as the HP servers came in a bunch of boxes that I had assemble myself. On the other hand I never spent more than half an hour on the assembly of the HP servers, which is tribute to the wonderful design of the machines. Anyone who has had to dismantle a Dell to do maintenance or replace a subsystem would very much appreciate the design efforts of the HP engineers. Cost wise I have found that HP is VERY competitive with Dell and in my purchasing round beat Dell by a substantial margin. I also like the admin tools that came with the HPs better than those from Dell; though this may be a personal preference type of attitude. Bottom line; I would prefer to have HP servers over those from Dell, but either one will get the job done and keep doing it for a long time.

Hey, I've been working on HP stuff sence the early
70's like the M/E/F 1000's and now manage over 2000 HPUX and Windows servers. There is no better
hardware/software support and training available.

you have a lot more choices than just hp or dell, the real issue that they both dell and hp need to address is reliability which doesn't come with a brand name, it comes from actual appliance performance.

Both are excellent products. I submit that the thing to do here is go with your "Gut" feeling and personal experience.
If as you say, you've worked with Dell and have been satisfied,then disregard "Grumblings and Rumors". You've been at it long enough to know the system and what to anticipate from it. When it doesn't work properly, you'll find the answer much faster on a system with which you are familiar. If you know Dell better than HP then I suggest that you stick with it unless it gives you problems. If in the other hand,the converse is true then the same becomes applicable.
In then end, you'll still have to rely on a combination of your skills, expertise and gut feelings to solve most issues so go with that which you are more knowledgeable and comfortable.
It's bad enough having problems, you don't need them compounded by the fact that you're not quite familiar with the new product yet.
There's an old saying.
"If it ain't broke,don't fix it"
I would suggest that this applies here.
Good luck with your choice and especially with your new Venture.
Regards
AaB

The decision of which servers to purchase is easily determined with asking a few questions.
1: What class of servers are you requiring?
2: Are the servers you are purchasing going to be similar class machinges?
3: How many servers are you purchasing?

I can tell you that if you are purchasing all low-mid range systems the Dell is usually cost competetive and they do make decent servers. However, if you are running enterprise class servers for you DB's and Email while running lower class servers for Web and DNS then you need to look at either a mixed environment of Dell and HP (not recommended) or go to HP. Unfortunately, Dell does not have the experience in the high end Intel server market and their are too many issues to consider them. I have approx. 700 servers that I support and the 54 Dell 4 way zeon with 4GB RAM boxes are only used for test/development because we can not trust them for production. I have a few smaller Dell servers that I have used for infrastructure that I have had few problems with. Keep in mind Dell is a PC company that sells servers (low - mid range servers are still based on PC architecture) and HP servers (formerly Compaq) have been designed as servers only and there was never any collaboration between there PC and Server lines at all.

The best thing you can do is make arrangements to tlk to the Tech Support for each system. I've had both and unfortunately I've found HP support inferior. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones but I've rarely had to call Dell a second time.

I spent over 3 months trying to get a HP scanner to run on a Compaq machine. Neither HP or Compaq could help. I gave up, purchased, an Epson, and it worked out of the box. Best of all I didn't have HP Tech Support giving Windows 98 solutions to a XP operating system.

I have been using Compaq servers for the last 10 years and have found them to be very reliable. The support/service that I have received over the years has also been outstanding, whether I was a small customer or a large enterprise customer. I have heard that Dell servers are good machines, but I have found that dealing with Dell's sales representatives difficult. Dell was not willing to work with me and my current company unless we discussed purchasing several servers at once, as opposed to the 1-2 every quarter that is the way my company typically does things. I believe that the decision will come down to price and level of comfort with the product that is being purchased. For my money, HP (Compaq) servers give me a level of comfort that is not present with Dell.

I was in field service for over 10 years and I experienced a higher failure rate on Dell servers compared to HP (Compaq Proliant). At my current job we use to have a mix of Dell and HP, but we switched to all HP after having quality and support issues. Now our system failure rate, since switching to Proliant servers is negligible. Dell does produce a good consumer computer with great technical support for level 1 type of problems (consumer problems). I recommend these systems to my friends who are looking for computers. It is a totally different story if you need more that basic technical support or service. Their level 2 support is poor and lacking. As far as getting service it appears to be a hit or miss proposition. Some of my colleagues are reporting good level of field support (most are not), but my recent experience (I do volunteer work) with theses servers and support has been at best bad. I have experience long lead times in getting service and parts.

I'v been a server admin for about 5 years now. When I got to this position we were running HP/Compaq servers and SAN. We've debated about moving to Dell's time and time again and almost did untill I hear this one story that my friend had. He is also a server admin and they run Dell's at there shop they had a motherboard go out on one of his servers. He first had to fight Dell to send him a replacement even with the high end support contract. Finally they did and when he switched it out and sent in the old one in he was then sent a bill for the motherboard. They told them that from the records on the motherboard it was not in right conditions to be covered under warrenty. He never got out of it and had to pay the bill and now is converting to HP/Compaq shop. I will now not even consider Dell for the shop that I'm working at.

Compaq servers are easy to setup and maintain.
The Smart start software helps you configure your server with little difficulty. RAID levels and all.
My experience with HP-Compaq support has been by far much better than Dell support. I am not bashing Dell, I am talking from my own experience with their Tech Support.

If you are going for an HP-Compaq server, get a Proliant server. My humble advice.

Dell does not make enterprise class equipment. It is fine for small/midsize enviornments.

If you want an enterprise class (ISP) operation, then use the right equipment.

Yeah it's true what most of the folks here said:
1. Consider the VAR selling you the product. Do they have good tech support? They're the first line of (external)support, and will determine your support experience with the brand.

2. Technology-wise, HP/Compaq is a leader. Dell more or less has simply tried putting together the best technologies it could find from all around.

Other tips I'd like to give are:
1. Get extended warranties (3 years) if possible. I KNOW HP-Compaq offers them. Not sure about Dell.

2. Get an SLA (Service Level Agreement) with your reseller, and have it written down in paper. So that they're aware that you put a premium on post-sales service, hence give you the service you requre.

I have several Proliants (yeah they cost much) running for around 2 years now (yes, I got extended 3-yrs warranty so I can sleep better), and so far... no crashes, support was quick (because I demanded it), and I have no problems at all... except for the budget-approval stage (that's because they cost more). But considering the frequency of downtime (or lack of it) and the cost it brings(or in this case, the savings), I was proven correct in selecting HP-Compaq.

We have some 200 Dell servers and they are good on average. Hardware falure percentage is low. They doe have good service and if there is a problem they will address it the same day with comming out to your site if have to.

In my last shop, we were all HP servers, and had few problems. In my current shop we are all Dell, and have had only 1 problem in my 4 years here. Dell continues to provide me with high-quality at a surprisingly low cost. I am continuing to purchase only Dell servers here.

Stay away from the Dell servers, their quality has gone downhill over the last 30 months. The company I work for used to use them for desktops and servers. We recently switched to IBM and are very happy.

Friends,
from my personal experience: don't think. Dell have good desktop PC's but servers are inferior!
Go with HP...

Best wishes,
Branko.

I'm the IT manager of a medium-sized business (200 desktops, 10 servers). As far as I'm concerned, Dell is the only solution for me. I maintain a mix of file, SQL, web, app and name servers in a mixed (Novell & Windows) environment. When I was hired three years ago, I inherited a completely Compaq site. I suffered through the merger and it was a painful experience. I switched to Dell after 1 year and have never regreted the decision. With the exception of just a couple of desktops and 1 Proliant server (soon to be replaced) I now run a 100% Dell shop. I buy the gold support on everything and when they promise 4 hour problem resolution, they mean it. I find Dell's reliability to equal or better HP's but Dell's prices are a full 15 - 20% less. My account executive is very professional and the sales guys are friendly and easy to negotiate with. I've even switched my S & A purchasing to Dell.

Some argue that HP is a clear performance leader, but if they are, the difference is incremental at best. I spend $70 - $100K with them a year and enjoy the relationship. HP will have a very difficult time getting my business back.

I have been supporting these systems for 15 years
With a Client list exceeding 500 different companies, I have worked on ALL Servers.
HP/Compaq, Dell, IBM, homemade boxes...

The guy that suggested the IBM makes me laugh. Great box, but WOW ! What a price !

When your comparing HP to Dell, your comparing a well-founded support system of developers and Technicians to a group of box movers.
HP has designed a great line of systems and established a terrific support team for those systems.
Dell wants to sell a decent product for a decent price and offers a decent support team.

Hardware reliability is relative. Both companies have problems because both companies use electronic components. DOH. Electronic components either work or they don't work. I have seen the same level of hardware problems with Dell as I have with HP.
Probably a little more failures with HP, but thats just because there is a greater number of HP servers that I support.

The greatest distinction between HP and Dell, comes when you need support.
HP offers assistance for all HP Certified Resellers. This comes in the form of an 800 number and a quick parts replacement program. A simple call to an HP tech and I can have your part on the way in 10 minutes. (4 hour turnaround with the right Support Contract)
(The Tech may be in some third world country, but they have the same Technical Bulletin information as the boys in the USA)
Dell, on the other hand, makes us (even the authorized service engineers) troubleshoot the problem with them for hours, until they are sasified that they can authorize a part shipment.
(This is usually with a third world representative also)

So the answer....
Buy the HP for your powerhouse machines.
Database, Exchange, File Servers, Backups
Buy the Dell for simple tasks.
Web, Mail Gateways, Firewalls, Printing.
Mix and match and have fun doing it.

One last note:
HP Hardware Pricing has become very competitive.
I can build an HP box cheaper than a comparable Dell solution.
I say Hardware because the Support Contracts can be expensive.

Good Luck !

A little true anecdote which just happened in the last 4 weeks. What's up with Dell, man?

Ancient history with Dell in 1996-1999:
Dell Latitude laptop:
- Broken flip clip fixed 4 times before they switched it from plastic to metal
- Broken monitor twice, once on a business trip,
- Dead drive after 2.5 years, lost all my data, but hey! New bigger drive for my troubles.

All covered wonderfully by Dell tech support within 24 hours, thankfully we bought the expensive support. Great support. BUY THEIR SUPPORT or you'd be completely screwed if you were in my shoes.

Problem was, I got 7 visits for their bad design, and probably lost 7 days of no machine. Not good.

Next story: Trying to buy 2 PowerEdge servers and a desktop from Dell in the past month:

Week 1: Order $10K servers online, apply for credit, which doesn't work. Call Dell and do order over phone, they're excited and assign me to a sales guy who will contact me shortly.
They call and tell me his name and say he'll call me soon. I'm pleased with the attention, I figured it'd all be electronic.

Week 2: Sales guy gets around to sending me an email with his contact information. I'm wondering if they've forgotten about me. I call him right away, and it takes 4 attempts to get a call through to voicemail of sales guy. After it hangs up on me twice. I'm wondering how a huge company like Dell could have such a bad phone system that hangs up on people.

Week 3: Sales guy calls me! I'm excstatic because I wanted these 2 weeks ago and wasn't smart enough to call around. We do the quote thing, I add a $2500 workstation to the order, he says he'll send it to me. I talk to their financing person and am apporved for credit.

Week 4: Monday, hey got the quotes! Whoo hoo! He calls and I say I need to review them. I call him 10 minutes later and and leave a message with two questions and we're closed.
Wednesday, I call again.
Friday, I get a message back at 6PM on Friday (after I've left).

Week 5: Monday I call Dell sales guy and leave a message.
Tuesday I call Dell guy and their voicemail system refuses to connect me to his voice mailbox. I call later and leave a message. I log a request in their support system saying I want another sales guy who actually will call me back.
I call HP and get a sales rep right away and a quote within an hour. We've been back and forth with the quote and I'm spending a little more (say, $500) for almost identical configurations to Dell.

Oh, and I've been reading every comment on this discussion. Very informative.

I think I may dump my Dell stock.

I have read some of the replies, many seem to be against Dell, or at best ambivalent. I don't know what they have experienced, but I have have nothing but good experience with Dell products and support. I support a section within a large county government agency. Our IT activities are independent of the departments. The department uses various HP/Compaq servers, apparently without much problem. We use Dell products almost exclusively. We have about 100 desktop PCs all but a very few are Dells and 18 servers, all but one are Dell. We have had few problems with the servers, which is intersting because over half were converted from PCs. On the actual servers, which see the heavyest use, What few problems we've seen were addressed quickly and competently by Dell support. Same for the desktops, all of the non Dells are older hand-me-downs, we only order Dell PCs/Servers through our VAR. Hope this help to balance all the negative replies.

I saw the title of this thread and decided to spit my two cents. The Poweredge servers that you mentioned were in fact pretty popular, I still see some old ones kicking around here and there. The problem with Dell is that they have been consumed by the market and are not on top in the support category anymore. The only thing I can give them is that you will most likely be dealing directly with them - no middle man. Their support still sucks though.

If you are honestly looking at HP...I don't know if you remember IBM in the late 80s and early 90s. HP is what IBM used to be when it comes to their proprietary garbage. I don't know how good HP support is because I don't even look at their products anymore.

IBM has THE BEST SUPPORT in the industry right now. You will never have a problem with IBM when it comes to knowledge base, device drivers, utilities, and support regarding some advanced configurations on some higher end servers.

We've recently invested in the IBM Sharks. Whoever reads this next sentence will not believe what I am saying...

*After the purchase of the Shark, and with pending plans to consolidate a lot of old junk into it, 2 guys came to join in the project. One guy from IBM and one guy from Microsoft. It was funny to see us all working together and chatting it up. Any IT person who just read that will understand how impressive this is.

Don't discount IBM. They may have been more pricey in the past, but when comparing apples to apples they are equal. The support is great as well.

We have both, Dell and HP. We recently just got two HP ProLiant servers and have problems with both servers from the start. It took HP at least three days to two weeks just to get replacement parts. We usually get a replacement from Dell within 90 minutes. You pay extra for HP servers and their service but you don't get your money's worth. We have been having problems with HP products and especially HP services for quite awhile now. Dell's quality is not as good as it used to be but it is still better then HP based on my experience in dealing with both companies.

I work for a Healthcare provider.
Our experience is that Compaq Proliant servers still beats Dell as heavy duty database servers/app servers. They are just better designed /engineered.
Dell PowerEdge servers are fine as email/print/web servers.

Win2K still has does not compare with Unix in terms of robustness.

My company NOW is an all HP shop. When considering Dell or HP we bought identical machines, for identical prices, they will price match by the way. Got in the dell and it literally took 15 minutes to boot, after weeks of hardware swapping, OS reloads, BIOS updates, come to find out the specific monitors with the video card we purchased were causing hardware conflicts. Since the machine was functional Dell says that on-site warranty was not applicable. Yes, we have had some problems with HP products, workstations, but service tech was at the office with parts in hand in less than four hours. WE have several DL products and some MSA products, when a drive goes bad, usually during an install, HP sends a drive with proper RMS info we slap the drive in and we are on our way.
I have heard the same stories both ways, but you just have to find the vendor you like the most, that is just my story above, I have heard great things about Dell but our first experience left a bad taste in our mouth.
On a side note, do not ever buy from Gateway, their support is a blatent lie, we tried a gateway server and have had nothing but problems with it, we bought the 4 hour support contract and they claim the 4 hours start when we get the part on site, we have waited for 2 months on more than one occasion for parts to a dead Gateway server.

We looked at Dell and IBM and finally decided on IBM. Came down to support and history.

I'm the sole server administrator for a large public K-12 school district. I administer about 150 servers. Prior to my being hired, they were purchasing HP servers, primarily LH4s. After I came in, I bought a few new HP LC2000s. The Dell rep came in and gave us a pitch, and was able to beat the HP price by almost $1K per server, depending on the configuration, and the rackmounts were even more of a break.

I've been buying the PowerEdge servers for about three years now. My experience with the servers themselves is that they're slightly more reliable than the HPs, the parts are much more modular and easy to swap out, and I've had a much better experience with Dell Open Manage Server Administrator. HP's service has a slight edge, but I pay Dell for an extra 4th year of service (we keep servers for about 7 years here). I have had a slight problem getting past the entry-level support folks, but have mostly bypassed that by using the web to submit any service request that isn't critical (one that doesn't have the server down).

They're both good, but in my opinion, the HPs declined significantly in quality when they merged with Compaq. When I worked for Boeing, they used all Compaq servers, and those were great, but I can't speak to their support, as we did nearly all of it in-house. Compaq's price is significantly higher.

Dell is very good about getting replacement parts to you FAST. The PowerEdge servers are very solidly built (my only complaint is that you can't get them with wheels and the ones I'm buying outweigh me by 50 pounds). Both companies will try to get you to upgrade every bit of firmware before they send out a service tech; I've not found that either has a significant advantage there.

Dell is usually very willing to haggle on pricing. We've gotten much better prices from them than from anyone else.

It can sometimes take a bit of back-and-forth on the phone to get them to actually send out a service tech, but when I'm willing to replace a part myself, they'll get a part to me within hours. I'm dealing with about 75 Dell PowerEdge servers, and have never had one down waiting for parts for more than 24 hours, whereas I've had a couple of my HP servers down waiting for parts for several days.

Both are usually very prompt about shipping parts.

I have had great luck with HP-Compaq servers. I have a client who just bought 4 Dell servers and 230 wkst and 25% of them ahd bad power supplies.
I have had numerous problems wit DEll wkst but limmited experience with their servers.