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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jun 3, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dell PowerEdge R-Series
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
307
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Data Center Networking (3rd), Blade Servers (2nd)
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
5th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
27
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 22.1%, down from 27.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is 8.9%, down from 15.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series22.1%
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers8.9%
Other69.0%
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Tom van Mil - PeerSpot reviewer
Systems Administrator at Lico Innovations B.v.
Supports flexible hosting needs through seamless upgradability and strong monitoring capabilities
The most valuable features of Dell PowerEdge R-Series for me are the feature richness and the upgradability. I really love the way that it is so dynamically applicable for every situation, and they manage to have an all-in-one solution for every single situation. Dell PowerEdge has supported the growth and operational success of my company through its great compute power and price-to-performance ratio. Every time Dell is at the top of its game for us, and there is just no other brand for us that is able to reach that kind of price-to-performance ratio. Dell PowerEdge R-Series has features that specifically cater to the needs of my small company, such as iDRAC. The iDRAC system is a complete feature set for managing servers and hardware technically and monitoring-wise. It really fits in our system and our ecosystem, and monitoring-wise, it is excellent. They have all these sensors available via different protocols and end points, which I love, and the ability to manage and control everything via the iDRAC interface is just a welcome bonus. In our use case, Dell PowerEdge R-Series is very flexible. It is another computer which helps a lot because of the durability over time. They keep running, making scalability for getting more of those resources in our environment so easy.
Mike Bellemans - PeerSpot reviewer
Project manager at Sopraco NV
One of the products in the market that is the easiest to set up and maintain
Performance and scalability-wise, there are certain areas where the product lacks and needs improvement as it does not provide a lot of fancy features presently. In general, it is a normal product that is good enough for our company. For the time being, my company does not need any extra features.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"They are very stable. They are rock solid. I am happy with them."
"Our requirement is 99.9999% uptime."
"The iDRAC is an excellent service; it allows us to install and deploy our software remotely."
"The reliability of its hardware and the support they provide are valuable."
"You are provided with excellent instructions."
"The solutions accelerated GPUs have helped to support demanding workloads and to reduce data processing time in our organization."
"Dell PowerEdge R-Series is overall a good, stable product that is not giving us any failures, and with 500 users doing CRUD operations, it is serving the purpose well."
"Virtualization is the biggest benefit for our organization, as we are able to virtualize a lot of applications and user desktops with the Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Server."
"The hardware is good."
"It is a stable solution."
"Technical support was very good. IBM support is very helpful."
"It's very power-efficient and allows you to access the rack server directly without accessing the operating system on that server."
"The IMM tool is great because we can upgrade different views and device versions very quickly. We can upgrade everything from a single point through a single dashboard, which is great for us because we also have Lenovo storage. Lenovo ThinkSystem also has Xclarity built into the system."
"I would say the stability of the system itself would be the biggest advantage."
"The product scales well."
"The server itself covers all of the bases — my clients are really happy with it."
 

Cons

"We use PowerEdge servers in conjunction with VMware, a VCF Rack, and VxRail. That has worked out well. We are using it for firmware upgrades and other similar tasks. It's a one-stop shop, but it could be better when the servers aren't on a VCF stack. Profile handling and upgrading standalone servers could improve, but they have gotten better over the years."
"The flexibility of card use could be improved."
"I am having a memory speed issue that I would like to be fixed."
"Overall, the solution is excellent, though Dell could improve the monitoring."
"I do not any have input as such, but there can be some AI capabilities."
"The price is acceptable but could be improved."
"The quality of support for this solution varies. Sometimes you get agents who are amazing and other times you get agents who take a long time to resolve your query."
"Regarding improvements to the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, increasing the number of disk bays to provide more storage solutions is essential."
"Upgrading firmware is easier in Dell than in Lenovo."
"Its price could be better. Its price is sometimes an issue for our clients."
"The solution is not stable."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers availability could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
"The RAID Management and the RAID Configuration tools need to be improved."
"The GUI of the system is really bad. HP has a very good UI for smart memories and everything inside, but in Lenovo, we have a black-and-white UI."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers does a very good job. However, what could be improved can be their Configurator because it's very bulky and it sometimes gives logical errors."
"The solution can be a bit expensive in that there are other cheaper options. While I do not know the exact pricing, I can say that the functionality is expensive."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I am satisfied with the pricing of the Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers and would rate the cost as seven out of ten, with ten being the best."
"I wouldn't say the solution's pricing is the best, but it's very competitive."
"The overall pricing and licensing are fair according to the market."
"It's not a very expensive solution."
"You can't have computed performance without using more power. That said, when I consider the power consumption and performance of the MX740c, depending on how much memory you install on each blade, you get the best bang for your buck."
"Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers are very expensive."
"I'd like them to be cheaper, but that's not the world we live in and that's not where the pound is at."
"It has generally been very competitive. It is not the best, but it is very competitive."
"Its pricing is very competitive."
"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.​"
"The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is highly competitive. Many customers prefer this solution because of the price. However, the price could be reduced."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers can be categorized as a product falling under an affordable price range but more expensive than its competitors."
"It is too expensive. Because we are a university and we have to look for our money, many times we buy some refurbished machines or equipment at reasonable prices from IBM or Lenovo. We are a little bit limited in terms of money, and we buy as much as we can. If they were cheaper, we would buy more."
"Other than the standard licensing fees there are no other additional costs. The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could be better, and the availability of the solution could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
"Your budget determines the scalability."
"I don't know the exact amount of money, but when I compared it to Dell or HPE, Lenovo was the best when it comes to price and equipment."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
University
9%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Computer Software Company
8%
Financial Services Firm
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business110
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise128
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business18
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

When shopping for a rack server, would you go with Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem?
Our organization ran comparison tests to determine whether the Dell EMC Poweredge or Lenovo Thinksystem rack servers were the better fit for us. We ultimately decided to go with Dell EMC Poweredge....
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
I think Dell PowerEdge R-Series can support more storage capacity, which would be great. Most other OEMs are trying to ensure you have a one-stop shop for just one server where you could get a whol...
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
My main use case for Dell PowerEdge R-Series is to use it as standalone servers but also as part of some clusters. I have some OpenStack private cloud deployed on them and some Ceph software-define...
How do Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers compare with HPE ProLiant DL servers?
Lenovo ThinkSystem rack servers offer flexibility and efficiency in order to meet mission-critical demands. I like that Lenovo blends outstanding performance, reliability, and manageability. The bi...
 

Also Known As

Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers
SR Series, Lenovo SR Series, ThinkSystem Rack Servers, IBM Rack Servers, ThinkSystem SR Series, Lenovo Rack Servers,
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
immixGroup, Komsomolskaya Pravda, SRG Global, Seekr, Infiniti Red Bull Racing, jKool, Tennis Australia, VEKA, Netpoints, Gamma Powersports
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
900,838 professionals have used our research since 2012.