Dell PowerStore vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series comparison

Dell Technologies and Lenovo are both solutions in the All-Flash Storage category. Dell Technologies is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.7, while Lenovo is ranked #20 with an average rating of 10.0. Dell Technologies holds a 16.5% mindshare in AFS, compared to Lenovo’s 2.4% mindshare. Additionally, 96% of Dell Technologies users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of Lenovo users who would recommend it.

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Sep 18, 2024

Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and Dell PowerStore are two competitive products in the enterprise storage market. Dell PowerStore stands out due to its advanced features, which users feel justify the cost.

Features: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is praised for its scalability, reliability, and cost-effectiveness, making it valuable for various enterprise applications. Dell PowerStore is noted for its data reduction capabilities, automation features, and detailed documentation, which make it a preferred choice for efficient storage management. Though both products offer robust features, Dell PowerStore's advanced functionalities give it a competitive edge.

Room for Improvement: Users of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series suggest enhancements in performance optimization, software updates, and better integration with third-party services. Dell PowerStore users highlight the need for improved integration with third-party services, enhanced reporting tools, and more straightforward deployment processes. Each product has specific areas where improvements are needed, with Lenovo focusing on internal updates and Dell on external integrations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series users report a straightforward deployment process with strong customer service support. Dell PowerStore's deployment is slightly more complex but is compensated by comprehensive support and detailed documentation. Despite different deployment experiences, both products are backed by dependable customer service, though Lenovo is noted for a simpler implementation.

Pricing and ROI: Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is favored for its cost-effectiveness and faster ROI due to lower setup costs. Dell PowerStore, although higher in initial cost, is perceived to offer long-term value through its advanced features, ensuring a significant return on investment over time. While Lenovo is appreciated for immediate affordability, Dell is seen as a worthwhile investment for future-proofing storage needs.

To learn more, read our detailed Dell PowerStore vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Report (Updated: July 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

July 2025

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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

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the All-Flash Storage category, the mindshare of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerStore is 16.5%, down from 16.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is 2.4%, down from 2.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

All-Flash Storage

Featured Reviews

Jaehoon Oh

Chief Technology Officer at Lambda256

Supports efficient storage management through volume snapshots and offers reliable non-disruptive upgrades

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could be enhanced. I can see the performance statistics in the Pure Storage console, but it does not show the performance by 4K byte unit. It displays IOPS and bandwidth, but IOPS is about real use, and I want to know how many IOPS are currently running in 4K byte units. I cannot see that IOPS because most storage systems report their performance by 4K byte unit. I want to see Pure Storage performance by 4K byte unit to compare with other storage or other internal NVMe SSD.

Read full review

Hassan_Zaki

Senior Presales Manager at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Integrated AI and clustering enhance storage operations effectively

I promote and recommend Dell PowerStore for all workloads to my clients and customers. Most of my customers have one appliance per site. Approximately 80% of my customers have Dell PowerStore implemented in their data centers. We always use CLS as another Dell solution for cybersecurity and data security. The CLS is integrated with the Data Domain, PowerProtect Data Domain, not with Dell PowerStore. Windows, Linux, and some customers use Red Hat or SUSE. We have many operating systems working with Dell PowerStore in the same environments and data centers. CloudIQ and Storage IQ are used by some customers, but Apex AIOps has not been widely adopted yet. Dell PowerStore has integration with VMware and Kubernetes. Most workloads work fine and have very good integration with Dell PowerStore, except for one or two specific workloads in the market. On a scale of one to ten, I rate Dell PowerStore a nine.

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Gastone Canali

IT Consultant at Effegibi

Provides good stability and is reliable in terms of performance

The solution is reliable in terms of performance They should include a snapshot feature for the solution. We have been using the solution for two to three years. The solution is stable. We have 60 solution users in our organization. The solution's initial setup process is easy. It takes three…

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"On a scale of one to ten, I rate Pure FlashArray as ten."

"The latency is good."

"The most valuable features of Pure FlashArray X NVMe are its superior performance compared to other flash tiers, as well as its ease of use, with an intuitive user interface that is simple to deploy and use."

"The tool's valuable features are speed, security, data compression, and reliability. Its data compression feature is the best that we have ever seen. It helps us to save money and resources."

"What I really like about this program, is that it is easy to use and easy to configurate."

"It's helped us because we've changed fundamentally what we talk about. We don't talk about storage and different tiers of storage anymore nor do we talk about servers. We talk now about applications and how applications impact the business and end users."

"The solution uses newer technology for deduplication and compression."

"Everything, especially the VMs inside, is pretty fast."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pros

"The most valuable feature is the encryption in the loop because we can manage data center data from a different perspective, reducing the space used while growing data using the same equipment."

"The simplicity and ease of use have been very valuable features. I have a very small team, and only half of the team is well versed in the HP product. Whereas if I bring PowerStore in, everyone can learn it because it will be new on the floor."

"Dell EMC PowerStore is scalable."

"The most important aspect of Dell PowerStore in comparison to any other platform is that it helps us save costs while giving more value per GB per dollar spent. It provides an industry-leading DRR ratio."

"This solution is very useful to us as we use it internally for all of the services that we need. We use it as a lab and we showcase new technology to the customers and how it can help them going forward."

"The solution is extremely stable."

"The administration tools take advantage of machine learning and make recommendations to the admins, and that makes the administration easier."

"That's the value Dell creates; you invest less, and you get a better ROI."

More Dell PowerStore pros

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is quite an elementary box, no frills. It does not have all the functionality of the DM but it is acceptable, it does its task. It integrates pretty well."

"Its initial setup process is easy."

"We have been working with the solution for around a year and so far it has shown itself to be stable."

"ThinkSystem's storage performs well, and the price per gigabyte is good, especially on SSD solutions. It's also easy to use."

"The solution's initial setup process is easy."

"Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is simple to use"

"The solution is very easy to troubleshoot. It's one of the most valuable features. It also doesn't take long to deploy and normally it comes with a three-year warranty."

"Fewer features is not necessarily a negative as it leads to simpler operation and lower price."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pros

Cons

"It's more multi-tenant functionality in their Pure1 manage portal that is lacking."

"In terms of what needs improvement, the dashboard and management could be simplified."

"Managing data isn't difficult for me. The performance is usually perfect, but we sometimes have capacity problems."

"The software layer has to improve."

"It feels more suitable for small and medium-sized businesses rather than enterprises."

"Many options to check performance, like read, writes, random writes, and random reads, are missing in Pure FlashArray X NVMe."

"I would like to see some AI features that would allow arrays to intelligently identify threats or unusual behavior in the data pattern and give an alert."

"In the future, I would like to see integration with enterprise backup systems."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe cons

"I do not like having to use VPLEX for synchronous replication, as opposed to having the store software built-in."

"When you create a case on Dell's support website, you don't always get someone who is experienced in the kind of systems you need help with...making it an area where Dell's support team needs to make improvements."

"If I could improve the product in any way, I would add features that make it look nicer compared to the DisplayPort."

"The support team should have more people with experience in the solution's installation process, as it is one of the areas where I see certain shortcomings."

"It's also only supported with a limited amount of switches."

"I have realized nothing exemplary from using Dell PowerStore, except hat the user interface is clunky, and we've had issues with that."

"I would like to see a Snapshot feature. Currently, it is unable to occupy the capacity."

"When we go to buy or populate more drives in the storage array, they're so expensive. If they could lower the cost for components, we would definitely expand them more and be more inclined to buy more storage units, but it's currently a price crunch for us."

More Dell PowerStore cons

"The product could support advanced software integrations."

"In the next release, I would like to see support for Hyper-converged infrastructure."

"It would be useful to have structured solutions replicated to other sites."

"The type of connection that is used in Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series should be improved."

"The features are limited."

"Improvements can be made to the product's performance."

"The difficult part comes when dealing with the host. You have to enable multi-pathing and other aspects that are needed for proper configuration. I don't know if there is room for a more hyper-conversion structure to work with, but this would be easier."

"ThinkSystem could be better integrated with backup software like Commvault, Veritas, or Symantec."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Pretty much everything that you need is licensed when you buy the product. Licensing to me is different than the maintenance cost, but they can bleed into one another. We buy the product, and we expect three years of support bundled into what we negotiate on our storage arrays. I would start to see maintenance costs going into the fourth year, but we're not there yet."

"The licensing is on a yearly basis."

"With Pure Storage, we would like to continue seeing price reductions with flash storage. I don't think we're any different than anybody else when we continue to look to the industry for price reductions of both NVMe and traditional SSD storage. We would like to see these prices continue to decline and erode, even displacing large spinning disks."

"The tool's pricing is cheap; I rate it a six to seven out of ten. Most of our sales are not subscription-based. We sell the hardware, and customers keep using it. They only renew the service part annually. The support can be a bit pricey, but the solution is more cost-effective than anything else out there."

"We pay approximately $50,000 USD per year in licensing fees."

"The tool is an investment that we've budgeted for. While the prices may be higher than those of other vendors, we see it as a market leader with benefits. We don't regret purchasing it."

"Our licensing fees are $500,000+ USD."

"With VMware, we pay $300,000 annually."

More Pure FlashArray X NVMe pricing and cost advice

"With compression, we were able to have a solution within our company's budget. We include a clause in the contract with Dell that states if the compression ratio is not met, we will adjust the workload accordingly."

"The pricing structure and licensing model of Dell PowerStore are very good and I like it. We chose it because it was reasonably priced and met our requirements"

"The pricing rates at seven out of ten as it is considered overpriced. Entry-level models are reasonably priced, starting around $30,000 for a base model with 6 drives. However, upgrades become costly - adding 6 additional drives can cost another $30,000."

"Dell PowerStore is more expensive than Dell EMC Unity All Flash. Dell PowerStore's performance metrics were way higher than what Dell EMC Unity All Flash offered."

"When we compared it with the other solutions, the pricing of PowerStore was equal. The pricing is good."

"The price of Dell EMC PowerStore could be better, it is a bit expensive."

"If we use the 500 or 1000, the licensing and pricing are reasonable. PowerStore can compete with any vendor and the price isn't that expensive."

"The price is not cheap, but it's worth it for the features you get from the storage. If you can afford it, you are probably buying the best solution that you can have for this virtual environment."

More Dell PowerStore pricing and cost advice

"We have a five-year contract for providing support."

"The price of the Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is a one-time purchase. There is a global price list available to find the price of the solution."

"The best thing about this solution is its price, which reduces our costs."

"The pricing for this solution is good compared to HP or Dell EMC."

"The solution's price could be better."

"All of the features are bundled together, and you can renew the bundle with all of the features included."

"The pricing is fair and low compared to other products in this category."

"It is an expensive solution."

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

14%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

10%

Government

Computer Software Company

17%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Financial Services Firm

Government

Computer Software Company

16%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

University

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

Pure FlashArray X NVMe helps to improve our processing speed. It is user-friendly and easy to use.

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

The price of Pure FlashArray X NVMe is very expensive, though I do not know the actual price because I am using the E...

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What needs improvement with Pure FlashArray X NVMe?

I have no specific improvements to suggest for Pure FlashArray X NVMe at this time. The performance statistics could ...

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What do you think about Dell EMC PowerStore? Is it actually a new product?

PowerStore is flexible, scalable, simple, and performant with market-leading economics for a wide range of legacy and...

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How does Dell's EMC PowerStore compare with its EMC Unity XT?

Dell EMC PowerStore is a unified storage platform that has the added benefit of being scalable. The automated managem...

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What's the difference between DELL EMC Powerstore and Powermax NVMe?

Dell PowerStore is an all-solid-state midrange storage system. It has many internal elements taken from other Dell of...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series is very good. We chose this type of storage for the performance and the price.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

The type of connection that is used in Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series should be improved.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series?

I use Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series to replace the old storage in our infrastructure. Additionally, I use it in custom...

See all answers

Comparisons

TrueNAS R-Series vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 17% of the time

Pure Storage FlashBlade vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 13% of the time

Dell PowerMax vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 13% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 10% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Pure FlashArray X NVMe

Compared 9% of the time

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HPE Alletra Storage vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 15% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 12% of the time

Dell PowerVault vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 11% of the time

IBM FlashSystem vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 8% of the time

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform vs Dell PowerStore

Compared 3% of the time

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IBM FlashSystem vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 13% of the time

NetApp AFF vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 13% of the time

Lenovo ThinkSystem DM Series vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 9% of the time

HPE Alletra Storage vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 9% of the time

Dell Unity XT vs Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Compared 6% of the time

More Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Pure FlashArray X NVMe

August 2025

Download Pure FlashArray X NVMe product report

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore

August 2025

Download Dell PowerStore product report

Buyer's Guide

All-Flash Storage

July 2025

Download Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series product report

Also Known As

Pure FlashArray//X NVMe, Pure FlashArray//X, FlashArray//X

PowerStore

ThinkSystem DE Series

Overview

Pure Storage FlashArray//X is the world’s first enterprise-class, all-NVMe flash storage array. It represents a new class of storage – shared accelerated storage, which is a term coined by Gartner – that delivers major breakthroughs in performance, simplicity, and consolidation.

Pure Storage

Dell PowerStore stands out for its high performance, flexibility, and easy integration with VMware. It offers notable data compression and deduplication capabilities while providing powerful NVMe support and machine learning to optimize IT operations.

Dell PowerStore is designed to offer a comprehensive approach to IT infrastructure by enhancing performance and simplifying management. It is particularly suitable for companies that require scalable solutions to increase compute or capacity independently. Featuring built-in intelligence, PowerStore allows efficient storage consolidation and reduced footprint, while integration with CloudIQ enhances monitoring and analytics. However, there are areas for improvement, such as stability, enterprise features, and the user interface. Pricing is high, and support responsiveness needs attention. Organizations primarily use PowerStore for VMware environments, storage, and data protection, supporting high-performance databases and VMware workloads. It is utilized in data centers for disaster recovery and hybrid setups.

What are the key features of Dell PowerStore?

Flexibility: Independently scales compute or capacity
High Performance: Offers powerful NVMe support and machine learning
Integration: Easily integrates with VMware
Data Efficiency: Provides data compression and deduplication
Simplified Management: Built-in intelligence for efficient storage management

What benefits should users consider?

Performance Optimization: Enhance IT operations with machine learning
Scalability: Increase compute or storage capacity as needed
Integration Potential: Improve efficiency with VMware and CloudIQ
Data Protection: Reliable for disaster recovery and hybrid environments

In industries like IT, finance, and healthcare, Dell PowerStore supports efficient data management and enhances infrastructure performance. Organizations leverage it to manage extensive data, streamline virtualization processes, and facilitate migration from legacy systems, while integrating cloud and on-premises infrastructures for improved operations.

Dell Technologies

The DE All-Flash Series delivers the performance of more than 2,000 15k rpm HDDs, yet requires only 2% of the rack space, power, and cooling. Because it consumes 98% less space and power, DE Series can significantly improve the overall efficiency of your IT operations while continuing to meet your performance requirements.

Lenovo

Sample Customers

Fremont Bank, Judson ISD, The Nielsen Company

Information Not Available

Buyer's Guide

Dell PowerStore vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

July 2025

Free Report: Dell PowerStore vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series

Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerStore vs. Lenovo ThinkSystem DE Series and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.

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