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Dell PowerEdge R-Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers comparison

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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
318
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (1st), Data Center Networking (3rd), Blade Servers (2nd)
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Ser...
Ranking in Rack Servers
6th
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 September 2026, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge R-Series is 21.0%, down from 27.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is 7.3%, down from 15.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Dell PowerEdge R-Series21.0%
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers7.3%
Other71.7%
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

"Dell PowerEdge R-Series has positively impacted my organization by helping us solve the business cases for our business requirements and has addressed our complex business requirements that arose because applications were distributed amongst different data centers."
"The Xeon CPU makes the system work very well and fast. I like this type of CPU. It has helped to improve the performance of targeted workloads by 70%."
"They provide good support for part replacement, and when they cannot because the part is unavailable, they are pretty good at informing us and letting us know, but generally, these servers just sit in the data center and have been working 24/7 for years without any problems."
"Overall, I've seen an improvement in the network bandwidth, as well as an improvement in the speed of the blades and the processors."
"I'd give Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers a rating of ten out of ten."
"We have about 80 servers and have only lost maybe two power supplies. They just run forever."
"Overall, PowerEdge is a very good system."
"This is a quality product that can be customized for our clients."
"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."
"It performs really well, and the price is cheaper than other solutions."
"It's very easy to set up and energy-efficient; it's very compact and has enough connections on the front and back of the rack."
"The most valuable aspect of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is the brand name and the service relationship we have with Lenovo."
"The product is very user-friendly."
"It is a stable solution."
"We appreciate the stability and easy mountings of all the machines."
"It is stable and reliable, and we find the performance to be good."
 

Cons

"I chose a rating of nine instead of ten because there is always room for improvements in technology."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have higher hardware costs compared to HPE ProLiant servers, which are cheaper."
"Non-vendor-specific things could benefit Dell PowerEdge R-Series. Dell has a lot of OEM material, obviously, because it is an OEM provider, but it could benefit from more AMD, more ARM, and more across the line."
"For storage, I find that Dell PowerEdge R-Series is not useful."
"Power consumption is probably on everyone's top of mind regarding Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers; they use a lot of power and create a lot of heat. Also, the noise levels are pretty high, though I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about it."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers are competitive, but there is room for energy efficiency improvement considering the thermal design and power consumption."
"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers could be improved in areas such as cooling. I've seen some demos of Dell working with Vertiv to manage things such as that, so a combination of air cool and liquid cool."
"The customer support is average; I would rate it seven out of ten."
"I have a few notification alerts about PCI cards but it's rare."
"Throughout the use of the product, special needs will arise which may require a global need."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could improve the availability of their solution. The supply chain is severely broken, we've had to wait many months for component parts to a system time after time. The availability of discs and raid controllers has been difficult lately."
"I would like the solution to be improved by having more advanced utilities."
"Upgrading firmware is easier in Dell than in Lenovo."
"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."
"The solution's initial setup was complicated."
"The price of the solution is very expensive when compared to other solution like HP or Dell."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's a one-time licensing fee for the device and we pay a quota per year for the support."
"The tool's pricing is very good."
"The price of Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers is reasonable compared to other solutions."
"We do use Dell's OpenManage console. It is easy to use this console for lifecycle management or PowerEdge servers."
"Dell is pretty good. good. I had a conversation with Dell a while ago due to a vendor. We got much better pricing from a competitor. When I looked at another company, Dell called me and asked why am I looking at someone else when they have a distributor. I told them that their pricing was not good, so Dell went back to the distributor, and we got much better pricing"
"Dell's solution was cheaper than HP's solution."
"We have a strong agreement in place with our parent company, that typically ensures favorable pricing terms for us, although occasionally we may need to negotiate with Dell representatives for further discounts to provide competitive pricing to our customers."
"Pricing appears to be comparatively favorable, particularly within the project's scope."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers can be categorized as a product falling under an affordable price range but more expensive than its competitors."
"Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers are cheaper than HPE...It is a good product that offers value for money."
"It costs around $8,000. There is an additional cost for the support for a year."
"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."
"In India, the solution is cheap compared to 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."
"As the costs got high, we had to use the virtualization feature to consolidate the server farm.​"
"The cost of the solution depends entirely on the client. There are not any additional costs other than the standard licensing fee."
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Top Industries

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

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business112
Midsize Enterprise66
Large Enterprise138
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?
The cost is one area Dell PowerEdge R-Series can be improved. If Dell PowerEdge R-Series could look at the price, that would be best. Whether it is good depends on if the company's budget is good.
What is your primary use case for Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
I use Dell PowerEdge R-Series for installation, and all virtual VMware infrastructure is running on Dell PowerEdge servers. I am mostly using all infrastructure servers with Dell PowerEdge. I am ho...
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: September 2026.
913,924 professionals have used our research since 2012.