IBM vs Dell servers

[halve]

Between IBM xSeries 345 serves and Dell PowerEdge 2650's, does anyone have any prefrence to one or the other? I am looking to purchase about 25 of these and want to make sure I pick the best one. I have found the Dells to be considerbly cheaper, but does that also mean they are of a lesser quality? Some of these servers will play mission critical roles so I do want to make sure I am getting a well put together system. What do yall think?

Halve

 

[tigerwannabe]

i'd go with the ibm brand myself. nothing against either server--but i like the support ibm provides better than dell...based on my own experience.

 

[prosaic]

I second the suggestion of going witih IBM. I have a bunch of the Dell 2650s, and they have been plagued with really annoying hardware problems, like flimsy Ethernet ports that stop holding RJ45s properly in place and a number of failed hard drives.

- prosaic

 

[Schadenfroh]

ibm service quality is way better, my dad works at a local company that uses ibm servers and they had some trouble with it. That same day IBM flew some guys in from Atlanta (we live in MS) and fixed it for them.

 

[DaFinn]

I would buy Dell only if I felt really, really lucky!

My company has been running IBM servers since first Netfinity ones became available, and even those are still running without any props 24/7. And the support is unmatched by any other company...

Buy IBM and relax and :beer:

 

[Noriaki]

Definately the IBM, man were they ever great to work with. If we had a hardware problem, we'd call them and within half an hour (even at 2am) our IBM guy would be onsite with replacment parts in hand making sure we were up and running as soon as humanly possible.

Solid hardware and excellent support service. Hard to go wrong.

 

[Macro2]

Doesn't IBM offer Opteron servers? IBM then...

 

[dexvx]

It depends on the warranty. FYI, Dell bundles the cheapest warranty by default. If you upgrade to more expensive warranty plans (eg 4 hour onsite) it can be good.

 

[prosaic]

Yes, I know. The last time I called Dell here with the on site 4 hour service I waited three weeks for them to get the parts they needed to fix the server. On a server with such a vast number of installations that is absolutely inexcusable. My experience has been that IBM is much better at the logistics of, as well as the execution of, the service call.

- prosaic