I use Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers to run our university's ERP system and specialized software for long-distance learning. These servers also support seamless file sharing.
CIO at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Offers competitive pricing, options for easy upgrades, and saves valuable space
Pros and Cons
- "Easy integration with UPS systems provides added convenience and efficiency for our operations."
- "Improvements could be made in the network cards, particularly by offering options for higher-speed cards beyond the current 10 GB."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What I like the most about Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is that they save space by consolidating everything into one cabinet, making management more straightforward. Additionally, easy integration with UPS systems provides added convenience and efficiency for our operations.
What needs improvement?
Improvements could be made in the network cards, particularly by offering options for higher-speed cards beyond the current 10 GB. Upgrading to faster network cards would enhance performance and meet the demand for increased network speeds.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers for almost four years.
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have not had any major stability issues with Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers are scalable enough for our needs and serve a variety of enterprise clients.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate Lenovo's technical support as an eight out of ten. It is quite good.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
Deployment required a small team and it was handled by one internal person and supported by a couple of engineers from our supplier. It is quite easy to maintain the servers.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The pricing of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is quite competitive with yearly licenses.
What other advice do I have?
My advice to new users is not to focus too much on benchmark indicators for servers. The key is finding servers that align with your specific application needs and optimizing them for performance, regardless of the brand. It is more about how well the servers suit your applications than just the brand's performance claims. Overall, I would rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers as an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Technical Department at a construction company with 11-50 employees
Highly reliable, helpful support, and hardware performs well
Pros and Cons
- "The hardware performance is very valuable."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We use the Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers for file, print, and storage servers. Additionally, for office collaboration.
What is most valuable?
The hardware performance is very valuable.
What needs improvement?
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 dashboard and customization can improve.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers for a long time.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The reliability is extremely good. It is very stable, it can run forever.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is scalable. however, in our case, we are a one-site office, we don't scale the solution that much. We look at the specifications and we use it until it is out of warranty and maybe we replace it or upgrade.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support is very good from Lenovo.
How was the initial setup?
The setup of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers was simple.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is competitive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We did not evaluate other options because we are an IBM business partner. Lenovo is our go-to brand.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. partner
Buyer's Guide
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers
January 2026
Learn what your peers think about Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: January 2026.
881,757 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Pre-sale and Post-sale Engineer at a reseller with 201-500 employees
A perfect solution with good stability, good local support, and best performance
Pros and Cons
- "Its performance and the local support of Lenovo in my city are the most valuable features. Its performance is the best, and its user interface is also very easy."
- "Its price could be better. Its price is sometimes an issue for our clients. XClarity Controller is a very good feature, and Lenovo should include the XClarity Controller license without any additional cost. It should be integrated within the product."
What is our primary use case?
Our clients use it for server virtualization.
What is most valuable?
Its performance and the local support of Lenovo in my city are the most valuable features. Its performance is the best, and its user interface is also very easy.
What needs improvement?
Its price could be better. Its price is sometimes an issue for our clients.
XClarity Controller is a very good feature, and Lenovo should include the XClarity Controller license without any additional cost. It should be integrated within the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for ten years or so.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It has very good stability. Lenovo systems are very good in this aspect.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Its scalability is fine for me. Our clients are usually SMB, but we also have some large enterprises.
How are customer service and technical support?
I am very satisfied with their support.
How was the initial setup?
Its initial setup is very easy. The deployment generally takes two or three days, but the duration also depends on the complexity of the solution. One person is sufficient for its deployment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its pricing is very competitive.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Our clients evaluate Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Dell. I find Lenovo better in terms of performance, support, and price. Its performance is good for me. Other vendors are not bad, but Lenovo is usually my first choice.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution. I would rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers a ten out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Reseller
CTO at a financial services firm with 201-500 employees
Good integration, good support, and easy to use and scale
Pros and Cons
- "It has good integration. You have VMware for connecting many machines, and you can support microservices. You can also easily connect the networks. It is also very easy to use and implement, and it comes with good support."
- "It should have tools for integration with the cloud. We should be able to transmit data from our on-premises server to the servers in the cloud."
What is our primary use case?
We use it for microservices. It is for the main applications and growth of the business.
What is most valuable?
It has good integration. You have VMware for connecting many machines, and you can support microservices. You can also easily connect the networks.
It is also very easy to use and implement, and it comes with good support.
What needs improvement?
It should have tools for integration with the cloud. We should be able to transmit data from our on-premises server to the servers in the cloud.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for about eight years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It has good stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is easy to scale. We have around 300 users.
How are customer service and technical support?
They provide good support. We have a software to communicate with them and get any help that we need.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Before Lenovo, there was an IBM server. We started to use this server because it is easy to use for microservices, and there are many applications.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. The deployment took about three months. We had to integrate microservices, and we also had applications.
What about the implementation team?
We deployed it ourselves. In the company, we have more than three people for its deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It costs around $8,000. There is an additional cost for the support for a year.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Nutanix and HPE are also good options. Nutanix is a little expensive. HPE has only two servers, but we need three servers.
What other advice do I have?
It is a very good product. It is very easy to implement, and you can scale it easily. It is useful for us, and we plan to keep using it. When the company grows, we would add more servers.
I would rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Lecturer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Good stability, easy mounting, and good support
Pros and Cons
- "We appreciate the stability and easy mountings of all the machines. We have some direct connections with IBM, Lenovo, and other companies, and we get close support from them."
- "It is quite an expensive product. Its price can be improved."
What is our primary use case?
It is a large VMware virtualization environment on which our students and researchers are running all the machines.
What is most valuable?
We appreciate the stability and easy mountings of all the machines. We have some direct connections with IBM, Lenovo, and other companies, and we get close support from them.
What needs improvement?
It is quite an expensive product. Its price can be improved.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. We have 1,000 users. They are our students and researchers. We plan to keep on using this solution.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have some direct channels there. We also have a Lenovo mainframe at our site for demonstration purposes, and we have some direct connection with the engineers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup was straightforward. The deployment duration varies because sometimes the students are deploying it, and they take a little longer. Normally, it is quite fast.
What about the implementation team?
I am a part of the consulting team and a lecturer at the University. The implementation is done by some assistants to teach the students. We have four to five full-time people for its deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
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.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others. I would rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers a nine out of ten. It is just the price that lowers it to nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Lecturer at a educational organization with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable, easy to install, and has good technical support
Pros and Cons
- "The solution is very simple to install."
- "From our side, our budgets are really not there. The availability of cash is a little bit limited. We buy as much as we can, If it was less expensive, we could buy more."
What is our primary use case?
It's a large virtualization environment where our students and our researchers have all the machines running and it's realized with VMware.
What is most valuable?
We appreciate the stability of all the machines.
The easy mountings are convenient.
We have some direct connections to IBM and Lenovo, as well as other companies. They offer us very good manufacturer support. Technical support has been very good and we've been satisfied with the level of service we get.
The solution is very simple to install.
What needs improvement?
There are so many features, it's difficult to even use them all. Therefore, I don't believe there are any features that are lacking.
From our side, our budgets are really not there. The availability of cash is a little bit limited. We buy as much as we can, If it was less expensive, we could buy more.
For how long have I used the solution?
I deal with this solution about once a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. It's very reliable. There aren't glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution can scale quite easily. If you need to expand it, you can do so rather easily.
We have about 1,000 people on the servers that we have. They are all students and researchers.
We'll continue to use this product going forward.
How are customer service and technical support?
We've had a good experience with technical support. We have some direct channels there. With Lenovo, we also have a mainframe on our site for demonstration purposes. We are lucky to have a direct connection to the engineers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is not complex. It's very straightforward.
Deployment times vary. If students are doing it, it might take a little bit longer, however, if we handle it ourselves, we can do it relatively quickly.
It's difficult to count how many people we have on deployment and maintenance duties as they're all part-time. We have about four to five full-time equivalents.
What about the implementation team?
I am part of the consulting team. The work is done by some assistants or to teach a student as I'm a lecturer at the University.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost is a bit pricey. We'd buy more from them if we could, however, we are on a limited budget.
What other advice do I have?
We're just customers. We don't have a business relationship with Lenovo.
Normally, we are not using the latest version of the solution due to the fact that they are too expensive. We are a university and we have to look for how much money we use. Therefore, often we end up buying some refurbished machines or some equipment from IBM, from Lenovo, etc., which we get at reasonable prices.
Everything is on-premises and we have our own private cloud with these machines.
I'd recommend the solution to other organizations.
Overall, on a scale from one to ten, I'd rate it at a nine.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
IT/OT Project Manager and IT/OT Architect at a energy/utilities company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Cheap solution in comparison to other products on the market
Pros and Cons
- "It is a scalable product."
- "It was complex to get this started because the Lenovo and VMware are not very compatible. We had to get some updates in order for it to be implemented."
How has it helped my organization?
We started adding servers to our central offices, and we considered HP devices, but we found Lenovo was a better choice for us.
What is most valuable?
It performs really well, and the price is cheaper than other solutions. They are extremely reliable.
What needs improvement?
The management troubles us a bit. We also had some issues getting VMware to run on the Lenovo servers. We were told to go to HP but we stuck with Lenovo.
I would like to see the management port improved. We do use XClarity, which is from Lenovo, but it still needs an upgrade. It is difficult to work with and it would be beneficial for Lenovo to improve this.
For how long have I used the solution?
More than five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The stability is great.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
This is a scalable product. When considering discs to servers, it is very reliable.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have another party that handles our tech support issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
About eight years ago, IBM was our preferred supplier. They were also the cheapest. We switched because IBM sold their hardware service to Lenovo.
At one point, we also considered Intel servers, but we still stayed with Lenovo.
How was the initial setup?
It was complex to get this started because the Lenovo and VMware are not very compatible. We had to get some updates in order for it to be implemented.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It is the cheapest solution we have seen on the market.
What other advice do I have?
When considering a vendor, I always consider reliability and cost.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Coordenador de TI at a tech services company
Ensures high availability, better hardware management, and support for active features
Pros and Cons
- "Ensures high availability, better hardware management, and support for active features."
- "Throughout the use of the product, special needs will arise which may require a global need."
What is our primary use case?
Implementation of site backup.
How has it helped my organization?
Improvements came in as:
- Server scalability
- Better asset-park management
- Better security to keep services active
- Convergence between manageable equipment
- Many other benefits resulted in better service delivery and continuity.
What is most valuable?
- Implementation of server clusters using VMware.
- Ensures high availability, better hardware management, and support for active features.
What needs improvement?
To date, we have not seen any need for improvements.
Throughout the use of the product, special needs will arise which may require a global need.
For how long have I used the solution?
One to three years.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
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Updated: January 2026
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