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Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs Dell PowerEdge XE Servers comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Oct 8, 2024

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 Rack Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
166
Ranking in other categories
Converged Infrastructure (3rd), Data Center Networking (4th), Blade Servers (5th)
Dell PowerEdge XE Servers
Ranking in Rack Servers
11th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.9
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Rack Servers category, the mindshare of Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers is 27.8%, up from 28.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Dell PowerEdge XE Servers is 1.1%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rack Servers
 

Featured Reviews

Syed Masuood - PeerSpot reviewer
Handles workloads and diverse applications efficiently
We have a lot of VMs on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. On a single server, we have probably hosted 14 or 15 VMs. Out of these, 8 to 10 are continuously running, and four of them are backup VMs, so it can handle a good workload. For cybersecurity, it is only accessible on the intranet; it is not accessible through the web. We use it for local development purposes, and it is behind our firewall. Its security is strong. We handle a lot of test data for government and confidential customers. It is safe and strong locally. We have not experienced any security issues. Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped to reduce unplanned production downtime if we need to replace a hard disk, instead of completely shutting a server, there is a hot swap feature. It is quite good in that aspect. Usually, for any activity, there is a downtime of about 30 minutes. It has saved a lot of time. We have tried AI workloads for a development environment for a government customer in Singapore. The servers are hosted in Singapore. It is an ML-based engine with AI. It is a government project where data is processed, and we run it on Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers. The benefit of running AI workloads on PowerEdge Servers is that it is easy to allocate memory. The application we are running is memory intensive. It is pretty easy to scale memory and storage.
Muzammil Nasim - PeerSpot reviewer
We're hardly using 15 percent of their computing power, so there's a lot left over that we could utilize
It should be easier to extend PowerEdge XE servers. We haven't architected them with an eye toward scalability. They have a fixed number of slots for hard drives, which is enough for our present use case, However, we would have more options if we could extend that. We could deploy the servers in a broader range of use cases with different requirements. It's fine for our current deployment with only a few thousand users. We're exploring other solutions like such as VxRail or PowerFlex for larger public-facing use cases.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers have helped reduce our downtime by a lot."
"In regards to security, I have noticed that we can implement Active Directory to the iDRAC. It is more secure that way. Then, everyone can access it as they please."
"It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%."
"This is a stable solution."
"Dell PowerEdge servers are powerful. They don't break, and I love that. In my career of over 30 years now, all the Dell servers we've ever used out of the box have never broken."
"We do not have much workload right now. We are happy with whatever we have tested."
"The OpenMange console is effective."
"Any necessary adjustments can be made seamlessly without the need to unplug cables, as everything is contained within the rack itself."
"The resource management features are valuable."
"The most valuable feature is the trusted platform module."
"Its reliability and consistency are most valuable."
"In general, it works well. We haven't had issues."
"The most valuable feature of these servers is the ability to store a lot—the capacity and the number of hard disk drives."
"The solution is flexible in my experience."
"The most valuable feature is that it can support up to 32 drives of internal storage."
"PowerEdge XE servers are high-performing. We're hardly using 15 percent of their computing power, so there's a lot left over that we could utilize."
 

Cons

"Its customer support should be improved."
"PowerEdge is not that flexible. For example, it's difficult if I need something that is not in Dell's portfolio. We offer the flexibility to the customer. We can implement different things Dell doesn't have. If you have preconfigured systems, it's hard to transition them to what you need."
"We have storage and would like to manage more backups without adding extra storage devices. Maybe it's already there. I need to look at it more."
"The VxRail updates need to be faster."
"Dell needs to focus more on SMBs, helping us get the most out of our products. For example, at events, there should be very specific SMB sessions where there are Dell technicians, engineers, and Dell executives meeting with us and finding out what we need. Dell is big on promoting the fact that they're part of our team and that they want to be our partners, and I would like to see them actually partner with us. Do it less with the big Fortune 500 companies and do a little bit more with us SMBs."
"Its price could be better."
"There might be room for improvement, especially in the software aspect, such as firmware updates."
"I would appreciate the capability to carry out live updates without the need to take the system offline."
"Upgrading can be a bit difficult."
"The quality and reliability could be improved."
"Dell PowerEdge XE Servers can improve by adapting HCI technology."
"The support team must improve the speed of response."
"In future releases, there should be more support options for the latest processor."
"It should be easier to extend PowerEdge XE servers. We haven't architected them with an eye toward scalability. They have a fixed number of slots for hard drives, which is enough for our present use case, However, we would have more options if we could extend that. We could deploy the servers in a broader range of use cases with different requirements. It's fine for our current deployment with only a few thousand users. We're exploring other solutions like such as VxRail or PowerFlex for larger public-facing use cases."
"It is mostly stable, but the usual problem would be, for example, upgrading to a newer version of VMware or dealing with compatibility issues during the process."
"I would like to have support for performing a detailed analysis of the server from a mobile device."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The overall pricing and licensing are fair according to the market."
"I wouldn't say the solution's pricing is the best, but it's very competitive."
"They seem to have become more expensive. I've not done a comparison with other vendors recently. If the price increases more, we would need to do a comparison next year just to make sure that we are benchmarking our server purchases correctly."
"PowerEdge is not a cheap product. It's a quality product, but there is always competition. If you want to buy a server, you need an operating system, and most of it is Microsoft. A bundled solution costs less than a separate operating system and hardware."
"The price of this solution is reasonable. It's very comparable to similar solutions."
"The product's pricing is not good."
"The solution's analytics helped to decrease production downtime by at least 30%."
"The pricing for this solution is reasonable. We pay a basic premium with a military premium on top of that."
"You always want slightly cheaper, but overall, they are quite comparable and quite neutral."
"The pricing model is quite competitive."
"Dell has competitive pricing."
"This solution is priced very reasonably."
"There are different types of licensing available, that works well for customers. The product is not very much to purchase."
"If you want an SLA for parts and equipment then you need to purchase a support agreement."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
22%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Financial Services Firm
7%
Government
7%
Computer Software Company
21%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 do you like most about Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
It has helped us reduce unplanned downtime by 20% to 30%.
What needs improvement with Dell EMC PowerEdge Rack Servers?
The solution can be improved in terms of firmware backward supportability. With the sixteenth generation servers I am using, slightly older kernels and drivers are not supported. I have to use the ...
What do you like most about Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
The resource management features are valuable.
What needs improvement with Dell PowerEdge XE Servers?
The support team must improve the speed of response. The product should be promoted more in the market.
 

Also Known As

PowerEdge R
PowerEdge XE Servers
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NxtGen Datacenter, Medien-Service Untermain (MSU), Exasol, IndigoVision, Dayco
Epsilon, ROZETTA CORP, JIGUANG, RACKSPACE, NEW BELGIUM BREWING
Find out what your peers are saying about Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers vs. Dell PowerEdge XE Servers and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,713 professionals have used our research since 2012.