Bear Stearns: Apple's New PCs and Servers Should Pressure Dell

Bear Stearns analysts Andy Neff, Bill Hand and Ted Chung sent a note to clients on Apple Computer's (AAPL) new product announcements yesterday. Key points from the note:

· AAPL vs. DELL: AAPL’s new products are compellingly priced. While AAPL’s Mac-focused product announcements at the Worldwide Developers Conference [WWDC] today were largely as expected and some investors came away disappointed given the lack of any surprises (i.e., “one more thing”), we believe that the compelling pricing of AAPL’s new Mac Pro and Xserve was overlooked. Contrary to the popular belief that AAPL’s Macs are premium priced and above its major Wintel competitors, our analysis indicates that AAPL’s pricing of its new professional systems are well below comparable systems from DELL. Stock implications: positive for AAPL (products are competitively priced relative to comparable Wintel systems).

· Mac Pro desktop: AAPL’s new Mac Pro (replacement to Power Mac G5) is based on Intel’s new dual-core Xeon processor and comes in one standard configuration – two dual-core 2.66GHz Xeon processors, 1GB of memory, 250GB Serial ATA drive, Nvidia 256MB graphics card, and 16x SuperDrive – although AAPL offers a number of build-to-order configurations. Priced at $2,499, AAPL’s Mac Pro is 28% less than the comparable system from DELL (Precision Workstation 690) which is priced at $3,471 (see detailed comparison below).

· Xserve (server hardware): AAPL’s new rack mount Xserve (available in October) is also based on Intel’s new dual-core Xeon processor and starts with a standard base configuration of two dual-core 2.0GHz Xeon processors, 1GB of memory, 80GB Serial ATA drive, ATI 64MB graphics card, and 24x Combo drive – although AAPL offers a number of configurable options. Priced at $2,999 for the base model, AAPL’s Xserve is 10% less than the comparable system from DELL (PowerEdge 1950) which is priced at $3,333 (see detailed comparison). Though DELL offers a superior service/support contract, AAPL’s Xserve comes with an unlimited client edition of its “Tiger” operating system, while DELL’s MSFT Server 2003 edition is limited to 5 client seats.

Comments

[Tom B:]

Plus the Mac ships with a solid OS; if you get the Dell, you have to download LINUX or something to obtain a credible server.

2006 Aug 08 01:06 PM

[ikke ook:]

Nvidia GeForce 7300GT => $100
Nvidia Quadro FX 3450 => $1000

2006 Aug 08 05:41 PM