QNAP HS-453DX Silent NAS Review
NAS: http://techteamgb.co.uk/hs453dx
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For those who are new to the world of NAS devices, a NAS is a Network Attached Storage device, which at its core is a hard drive connected to your network so you can access the data from any device, not just your phone/laptop/tablet/pc/whatever. These types of devices have evolved a fair bit such that now they are full linux PCs with web interfaces and a whole lot of features.
Most NAS units though are still the sort of thing you’d hide in a cupboard or on a shelf away from anywhere you’d be thanks to the noise from the fan and hard drives. This though, is one QNAP calls a “silent NAS”, and for pretty good reason. The wide design here means it’s a great fit for a livingroom TV stand, and since it has 2x HDMI ports – one of which is an HDMI 2.0 port so full 4K 60Hz output – it can double as a YouTube player, web browser or plenty more. Let’s have a look around and find out why you might want one of these.
On the outside, it’s pretty nice. Brushed Aluminium top plate, white plastic everywhere else. The front plate comes off, which reveals the power button and the two hard drive bays. These bays are basically just folded sheet metal with a few holes drilled, meaning the noise from the hard drives does transfer rather loudly when writing to them.
The back is where you’ll find all the I/O, and impressive set really. On the left you’ve got the DC in and a reset switch, then an Intel gigabit ethernet port, and an Aquantia 10GbE port which is great to see. You’ve then got a USB type C port, 2 USB 2s, 2 USB 3s, 1 audio out and 2 mic ins, as well as those 2 HDMI ports I mentioned, one being a 2.0 port and the other being 1.4b.
Inside you’ll find the reason for that big aluminium top plate, it’s the heatsink for the Intel Celeron quad core inside, along with the AQC107 aquantia controller, the rest is all passively cooled. You’ll also find the 2 M.2 ports inside, which I should make clear only run on SATA, not PCIe, meaning they’ll be capped at around 600MB/s. They do come with heatsink pads though so you can keep them nice and cool inside.
The web gui is the same as basically all QNAP NASes, it’s easy to use, has a lot of apps available including plex, wordpress and a whole load of web servers and dev tools. It’s also got full virtualisation capabilities, where you can use it as a linux desktop with the HDMI ports and USB for peripherals, or use docker or even a full VM station. On top of all that, the HDMI ports allow their “Hybrid DeskStation” which acts as an android TV type OS which has a limited selection of apps you can use, such as Youtube, Chrome and a few QNAP specifics like a file explorer and local media player.
So now you know a bit about it, you are probably wondering if this one is any good and whether or not it’s worth your money. Well I’m afraid to say it feels a bit like a swing and a miss. Most consumers don’t know what a NAS is, so aren’t going to be picking one up and time soon, and those who are, aren’t likely willing to pay £700 for one that doesn’t even have drives in. For small businesses that want this to double as their welcome signage or something like that, perhaps, since it’s presentable design could fit well in an office under a display, but for consumers, I just can’t see many people wanting this.
For me, I’m happy to stick with my cheaper 4 bay unit that has all the same features, and is almost as quiet, but is generally more practical for me. I highly recommend anyone get a NAS, for the convenience of data sharing between devices and people, and to backup all your photos, videos and documents, just probably not this one.
Products shown provided by: QNAP
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TechteamGB assumes no liability for damage, misuse or misunderstanding of the information contained in this video. Use this information at your own risk. TechteamGB cannot guarantee any particular result from the information contained in this video, and all information was presented as correct as of filming. TechteamGB accepts no liability for information being proven incorrect after the creation of the video, and all information should be taken as opinion and guidance, not fact. This video was not sponsored by anyone, and TechteamGB does not accept monetary – or non-monetary – benefits to alter opinions or results.
