QNAP TS-251 NAS box review: Fast and versatile, but short on memory

September 11, 2014

A faster CPU noticeably improves a NAS box’s file-handling performance. The 2.4GHz Intel Celeron J1800 in QNAP’s two-bay TS-251 also facilitates value-added functions, such as on-the-fly video encoding and the ability to run virtual machines. You wouldn’t even attempt these tasks on an Atom-powered NAS box. But you need at least 2GB of memory to run the Virtualization Station app that handles virtual machines, and the $499 model that’s currently available ships with only 1GB. More on that and similar issues later. Considering its price—which is cheap for QNAP, but expensive compared to everything apart from Synology’s boxes—I wasn’t shocked that the company penny-pinched on the TS-251’s enclosure. The satin silver and white plastic shell looks cheap, and there are no locks on the drive trays. Fortunately, the cost-cutting stopped there (not counting the 1GB of memory, that is). You get dual gigabit ethernet ports, an HDMI port that can drive a local display, two USB 2.0 ports, and two USB 3.0 ports. The front USB 3.0 port is used for for quickly copying the contents of USB storage devices onto the box.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2599318/qnap-ts-251-nas-box-review-fast-and-versatile-but-short-on-memory.html#tk.rss_reviews