We primarily use the solution for a network server and file server.
Manager of networks and infrastructure at a government with 5,001-10,000 employees
Easy to set up and has pretty good pricing but requires better local support
Pros and Cons
- "The initial setup is easy."
- "The pricing is the most valuable aspect of the solution."
- "The RAID Management and the RAID Configuration tools need to be improved."
- "The solution is not stable."
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
The pricing is the most valuable aspect of the solution.
The initial setup is easy.
It's possible to scale the product.
What needs improvement?
The RAID Management and the RAID Configuration tools need to be improved. The RAID infrastructure needs some work. The RAID, MegaRAID, and Software RAID don't always hold the configurations. I have had multiple instances where I had to rebuild the server due to the RAID Configuration not holding. The RAID, the MegaRAID infrastructure need to improve.
Local technical support could be better.
The product should have out-of-plan management and be more reliable with controllers while offering better management features for the configuration and drivers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for more than three years.
Buyer's Guide
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers
March 2026
Learn what your peers think about Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
885,286 professionals have used our research since 2012.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is not stable. The servers tend to not be resilient.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable. You can scale the racks. It's not a problem.
We have about 200 users using the rack server at this time.
We do not plan to increase usage at this time.
How are customer service and support?
Not much technical support is available locally. They need to offer better assistance in our area.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We also use Dell and HP.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is pretty straightforward. It's not a complex process.
The setup and deployment took maybe an hour or so.
You need two people for deployment and maintenance.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
We pay to license on a yearly basis. I have an enterprise license. I just use that license from a non-government perspective.
On top of that, there's the cost of renting any servers. I have to continuously be buying hard drives for it. In terms of the maintenance cost of the servers is high.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We also evaluated HP and Dell.
What other advice do I have?
We are a customer and an end-user. We don't have a special business relationship with Lenovo.
I'd advise new users that, if they are looking for a more resilient and reliable server to run any critical applications on, I would choose either HP or Dell. They also offer better support and better response time. While HP and Dell servers may cost a little more, you get more value for your money.
In general, I would rate the solution at a five 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.
A reliable and scalable product that performs well and is very user-friendly
Pros and Cons
- "The product is very user-friendly."
- "Upgrading firmware is easier in Dell than in Lenovo."
What is most valuable?
I am super happy with the product. The product is very user-friendly. It performs well.
What needs improvement?
Upgrading firmware is easier in Dell than in Lenovo.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for eight months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The tool is stable. Predictive Failure Analysis detects issues beforehand. It’s very interesting.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We might increase the usage of the product in the future. Around 100 people access the infrastructure. Our system administrators manage multiple solutions.
How are customer service and support?
We contact our system integrators if we have any issues.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We were using blade servers along with Lenovo. The blade servers were old, so we chose to work only on Lenovo Rack Servers.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Lenovo is more reliable than Dell.
What other advice do I have?
People from Dell came to us and told us about some features that are a little bit easier in Dell. Overall, I rate the tool a nine out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Buyer's Guide
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers
March 2026
Learn what your peers think about Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
885,286 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Server and cloud infrastructure at a consultancy with 1,001-5,000 employees
Performs well, high availability, and scalable
Pros and Cons
- "Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers are scalable."
- "We have not experienced any issues with the Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers' performance, as it is stable."
- "Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers availability could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
- "Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers availability could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server."
What is our primary use case?
We are using Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers for our VM processes.
What needs improvement?
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers availability could improve. We have been waiting two months for one server.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers for approximately seven years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have not experienced any issues with the Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers' performance. It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers are scalable.
We have approximately 500 users directly connected to the data center. We have plans to increase usage of the solution next year.
How are customer service and support?
From my understanding, Lenovo does not provide any direct support. They are providing support through vendors only. I have not used the support.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have used another solution prior to using Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers. However, it was seven years ago.
What about the implementation team?
The vendors did the implementation of the Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers.
The maintenance of the solution is mainly done by the vendors, and we have one person that is handling all the data center operations. However, they not only support Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers, but they also support the other solutions on site too, such as Cisco.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Other than the standard licensing fees there are no other additional costs. The price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers could be better.
What other advice do I have?
I would recommend this solution to others, we have not had any issues.
I rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Corporate Sales Consultant at Clear Concepts
Strong band reputation, highly stable, and straightforward installation
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable aspect of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is the brand name and the service relationship we have with Lenovo."
- "The most valuable aspect of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is the brand name and the service relationship we have with Lenovo."
- "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."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers can be deployed on-premise and in the cloud.
The use case varies from client to client.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable aspect of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is the brand name and the service relationship we have with Lenovo.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers for approximately 10 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers' stability is excellent.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We sell Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers to small and medium-sized businesses, whatever configurations we need to put together for the client's needs we are able to deliver.
How are customer service and support?
I have not directly dealt with the support from Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers is straightforward.
I rate the initial setup of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers a four out of five.
What about the implementation team?
Our technicians handle the implementation of the Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers. we typically use one technician for the implementation and we have a team of technicians that are available to provide support.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The cost of the solution depends entirely on the client. There are not any additional costs other than the standard licensing fee.
I rate the price of Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers a four out of five.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have previously evaluated HP solutions. HP is a comparable solution to Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers.
What other advice do I have?
Lead times to purchase this solution can be much longer than then expected at this time due to logistics delays.
I rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Microsoft Azure
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. reseller
Assistant VP, Information Technology at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Stable, and a market leader, but needs to be more competitively priced
Pros and Cons
- "They have taken a lot of technology from IBM, and IBM always delivered very powerful hardware to the IT industry compared to Dell EMC or anyone else."
- "They have taken a lot of technology from IBM, and IBM always delivered very powerful hardware to the IT industry compared to Dell EMC or anyone else."
- "The power consumption needs to be optimized in Lenovo."
- "I definitely suggest potential users skip Lenovo and go for Dell EMC, which has good hardware, and great internal security components."
What is most valuable?
They have taken over from IBM, which was the market leader. They have taken a lot of technology from IBM, and IBM always delivered very powerful hardware to the IT industry compared to Dell EMC or anyone else. They basically have a bit of an upper hand on the technology compared to any others in the market.
The solution is stable.
Setting up the product initially is simple.
What needs improvement?
The power consumption needs to be optimized in Lenovo. We also used Dell and find that is the case there as well. Though it has been optimized, we find it is still lacking for our conventions.
The solution could lower its costs a bit to make it more competitive with, for example, Dell.
Lenovo needs to modernize its components.
They should be using proprietary products rather than getting third-party products for remote sensing or security deployed on their rack servers.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using the solution for five or six years at this point. It's been a while. We've used it as long as we've used Dell.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We've used the solution for a few years not, and haven't had any issues with the stability. Overall, it is good.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
If STI technology is employed, you can scale the solution. Otherwise, it doesn't really scale.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I'm also using Dell EMC PowerEdge rack servers. We use both in our organization.
The power of the hardware is very good on Dell, compared to Lenovo. The features of the hardware, the security features, in particular, are very good in Dell.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is easy. We didn't have any issues with the process.
What about the implementation team?
We had no need for outside engineers. We could handle the setup ourselves.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is a bit costly. We find Dell much more reasonably priced.
What other advice do I have?
I'm just a customer and an end-user.
I definitely suggest potential users skip Lenovo and go for Dell EMC, which has good hardware, and great internal security components.
I'd rate the solution at a seven out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
Senior Custormer Engineer at Afcor PLC
High availability, good technical support, and easy setup
Pros and Cons
- "I like everything about this solution. It is a very good server, with excellent availability. The size of the power is adequate and the low heating is beneficial."
- "I like everything about this solution; it is a very good server, with excellent availability, adequate power, and beneficial low heating."
- "I would like the solution to be improved by having more advanced utilities."
- "The price of the solution is very expensive when compared to other solution like HP or Dell."
What is most valuable?
I like everything about this solution. It is a very good server, with excellent availability. The size of the power is adequate and the low heating is beneficial.
What needs improvement?
I would like the solution to be improved by having more advanced utilities.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have used the solution for approximately six years.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The solution is scalable.
How are customer service and technical support?
We have had the chance to contact technical support and it was good.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of the solution was straightforward, it was very easy.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The price of the solution is very expensive when compared to other solution like HP or Dell.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated similar products to this solution from HP and Dell.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers an eight out of ten.
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
Lecturer at HSLU
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."
- "We appreciate the stability and easy mountings of all the machines."
- "It is quite an expensive product. Its price can be improved."
- "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."
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.
CEO at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
It is easy to set up and has a single dashboard for upgrading different views and devices
Pros and Cons
- "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."
- "The IMM tool is great because we can upgrade different views and device versions very quickly."
- "HP has a riser inside, but Lenovo does not have a riser. It would be good to have a riser with Lenovo. 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. HP right now manufactures a server with scalable SP1 and SP2 on a single machine, which is not the case with Lenovo. They are changing the machine. For SP 1, there is one server, and for SP2, there is another server, which is really bad. In HP, we can use two models of processors in a single case. Lenovo should also be improved to have SP1 and SP2 scalable processors simultaneously on a single machine. They should not release another machine. This issue is also there in H3650 severs. They are all inside, but only V3 CPU or only v4 CPU can work, whereas, in HBG9, we can deploy V3 and V4 simultaneously. Lenovo also needs to advertise more because I can't see advertisements anywhere."
- "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."
What is our primary use case?
We are using this solution without any errors on the main boards or other systems. We are also using the storage of Lenovo, that is, V7000. We have 30 VM machines on the servers here, and we are using SP1 scalable processors.
We are buying all the things to use from Lenovo. Everything comes from Lenovo, that is, hard drives, racks, memory, and processors.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
HP has a riser inside, but Lenovo does not have a riser. It would be good to have a riser with Lenovo. 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.
HP right now manufactures a server with scalable SP1 and SP2 on a single machine, which is not the case with Lenovo. They are changing the machine. For SP 1, there is one server, and for SP2, there is another server, which is really bad. In HP, we can use two models of processors in a single case. Lenovo should also be improved to have SP1 and SP2 scalable processors simultaneously on a single machine. They should not release another machine. This issue is also there in H3650 severs. They are all inside, but only V3 CPU or only v4 CPU can work, whereas, in HBG9, we can deploy V3 and V4 simultaneously.
Lenovo also needs to advertise more because I can't see advertisements anywhere.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using this solution for more than four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is stable.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. We are deploying the servers for our customers. One of our customers has about 100 people working in the factory.
How are customer service and technical support?
I got support for a license issue, where I made a mistake in typing the serial number because of which it wasn't matching. Their support was really great. They edited my serial number, and I could get the IMM license very quickly.
How was the initial setup?
It is not complex. It is easy for us. The deployment took less than a week because we know what we should do. In four or five days, we had deployed it into the server. HP is easier to deploy than Lenovo.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost is the same as HP. It doesn't have any additional cost. However, the price, for example, for the memory option, does not match other vendors such as HP or Dell. They should work on the pricing of Lenovo. It is a great competitor, and it should compete with the price.
What other advice do I have?
I would rate Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers a nine 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
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Lenovo ThinkSystem Rack Servers Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros
sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2026
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