Which Company is Right? H-P or Dell?

For personal computer manufactures, the changes in the industry have prompted companies like Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) to take drastic steps, or at least consider them.

Rumors are swirling over whether Hewlett-Packard is considering dividing its business in two parts. The publication Quartz reported on Tuesday that the company’s board of directors “is studying a break-up of the US tech company among several options [...] to obtain maximum value for shareholders,” citing multiple unnamed sources. However, AllThingsD’s Arik Hesseldahl tweeted that no active board discussions were underway.

If the speculation – which began because of a September 27 10-K filing that mentioned a possible “disposition of assets” – turns out to be true, it would be huge reversal for H-P’s Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman. When she took over from the company’s former chief executive Leo Apotheker, Whitman made it clear that she would not follow his plan to spin off H-P’s personal computer business…