The PC maker says it will use more AMD chips, but that did little to make up for disclosures of slumping profits and a regulatory probe


Say this much for Dell: It delivered on at least some expectations when it reported earnings Aug. 17. For starters, the computer maker said second-quarter profit tumbled to $502 million, or 22 cents a share, in keeping with an earlier warning that analysts' average projections were too optimistic.

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Brent Bracelin, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Ore., said he was surprised by Dell's rising head count, which increased by 5,400 in the quarter, and 14,000 from a year earlier, to 75,100. "I think it's disappointing to see this pace of hiring and to see the head count growing so much faster than revenue," Bracelin says. "Hewlett-Packard is growing faster than Dell right now for the first time in four years. There seems to be a changing of the guard at the top of the PC growth curve, and I'm not sure that Dell is going to be able to regain that crown for at least three or four quarters until they fix their structural issues."


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Dell's had a rocky ride of late, but they are really pushing on the marketing side. I'd say Dell still has a strong market position, but needs to focus more on customer service issues.

HP may be growing again, but they've been in trouble since the Compaq purchase a few years back. Also interesting to discover if the growth is percentile or revenues.

Brian I agree with you as far as HP is concerned. I have been keeping a close eye on them and I have just about decided to dive right in.