CNET compares Dell’s new blade server to Apple Xserve

“Announced in April, Dell’s 1655MC blade server finally cleared the last of the delays in its gestation period and arrived as a (modestly equipped) US$1,600 bouncing baby blade about a week ago. The time Dell expended in labor with its new offspring was not well spent. Basically, the 1655MC is a Pentium III-powered blade that comes with SCSI storage and Ethernet connectivity–an ancient configuration by today’s standards, but Dell defends it nonetheless. We need only look back to other offerings from just June or July to verify its antiquity. Apple’s Xserve, for example, can be had with a 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor, 256MB of double data-rate SDRAM, a 60GB ATA/100 hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, dual Gigabit Ethernet networking ports, two USB 1.1 ports, three FireWire ports, and Mac OS X Server with a license for an unlimited number of users. Granted, its US$2,999 price tag at this level shoots well beyond that of the 1655MC, but the Xserve offers an unlimited user license, and that certainly offsets some, if not all, of the hard dollar difference,” writes Bill O’Brien for CNET Asia. Read the full story here.