QNAP TS-453A-4G Review

Key features

• 4GB RAM
• Intel Celeron Braswell N3150 1.6 GHz Quad Core
• 6Gb/s to Gigabit Ethernet
• Media player & Web Browser

Introduction

The QNAP TS-453A-4G is a Network Attached Storage or NAS device from developer QNAP. The TS-453A-4G supports the Ubuntu operating system, allowing people to utilize different development features provided by the Ubuntu environment, as well as supporting a cloud based storage solution. The device has a number of features that make it reliable for business or professional use, such as Volume Snapshot, allowing the user to revert files to previous versions in the event of file corruption. The TS-453A-4G includes a large catalogue of features, including the QTS 4.2 user interface, disaster file recovery (to revert data loss), the Qsirch file search and indexing tool and a number of other useful security features.

What is the performance ?

The QNAP TS-453A-4G NAS server is powered by an Intel Celeron Braswell N3150 1.6 GHz Quad Core processor, the benefit of which offers user useful features like support for 4k video playback, as well as on-the-fly HD video transcoding, allowing users to change the video encoding of files as they transfer from one device to the TS-453A-4G. The TS-453A-4G does struggle with transcoding 1080p files formats, let alone 4k, despite the decent processor within the device, on-the-fly, streaming transcoding definitely pushes the advertised capabilities a bit.

What is the storage capacity ?

The storage capacity of the TS-453A-4G is theoretically support up to 32TB of total storage capacity based on the 4 available drive bays, each with an 8TB drive.

Conclusion: Should I buy it ?

If you are looking for a NAS drive for personal home use, then the TS-453A-4G should be a decent choice that supports everything you will need to do, including general use functions. For instance : centralized storage available to all of your devices, online and offline HD video transcoding to more advanced things like running a VPN server, web server, or FTP server. A plethora of great features, such as comprehensive security features, data restore & recovery, and many more make the TS-453A-4G NAS a solid competitor in its price range. For those looking for more grunt especially in the HD video transcoding department, it might pay to look at other options, like the TS-453A-8G (with an extra 4GB RAM compared to the TS-453A-4G) or the TVS-463-4G, with a slightly better performing processor. Poor performance for online HD transcoding, bulky design 4