The QNAP TS-453A versus The QNAP TVS-463 – 4 Bay Power NAS Faceoff

 

Which QNAP 4-bay NAS deserves your money?

Network Attached Storage has been around a fair while now and I think it is fair to say that it is popular! But how to these popular NAS devices compare? Both are 4-Bay NAS from QNAP, but with a different target audience. The QNAP TS-453A is aimed at those looking for a cost effective, yet highly functional NAS for VMWare, NAS Surveillance, a Plex Media Server and all the traditional uses for a Network Attached Storage server. The rival NAS however, the QNAP TVS-463, can do all of these things too and in many cases much better, however this is at a much higher price! Alongside this there are certain features like PCIe card expansion, maximum Memory upgrades, CPU frequencies and upto 4 Gigabit LAN ports that really divide these two NAS devices – and not always with the advantage on the unit you would expect. So please find below our comparison of these two powerful NAS units and find out which NAS is the best NAS for you!

General NAS Performance?

The TS-453A-4G same as the TVS-463-8G is made by Qnap. By choosing Qnap people expect to see advanced configurations opportunities as well as innovative and more diverse business applications. You are able to customize the TS-453A-4G to your needs. This unit also arrives with a One-touch Backup button on the front panel, when it is configured on the TS-453A-4G, it can be used to backup data off of the USB device, or vice versa. The quiet cooling fan has been used in the construction of the TS-453A-4G. This is what you want when box is sitting on your work desk. Unlike the TVS-463-8G this box has the Intel Celeron Braswell N3150 1.6 GHz Quad Core (up to 2.08GHz) processor. Another key difference between the TVS-463-8G is RAM. TS-453A-4G arrives with 4GB RAM. The TS-453A-4G 4GB RAM compared with TVS-463-8G 8GB is clearly weaker.

About the Connections and Ports?

At the back of the box you will find HDMI port which will let you connect it to TV or monitor. In this case you are not limited to network speeds. You might be interested in audio output ports. With TS-453A-4G you can build a personal karaoke system with high-quality audio output. The TS-453A-4G is packed with remote control for you to conveniently control the HD Station via the built-in IR receiver of the TS-453A-4G. With four LAN ports this box is making good enterprise level NAS. Four USB3 ports on this Qnap is offering you up to 5Gb/s transfer speeds of external devices. It is fast enough to get your files through fairly quickly with this speed and make backing up with an external drive or Apple Time Machine a quick and easy process. Sometimes when your business grows, you might consider getting a box with expansion capabilities. With this box you have all opportunities to do so. You might want to contact one of our tech guys to find out more.

About Usage and Abilities

With 4 bay unit you are having additional advantages. You can choose from number of RAID solutions to set up. There could be RAID that saves your data even if one of the drives fail so you can still recover your data. This would be slightly more safe option to keep your data. Besides you can still access your documents or media files over your private network or even internet. You may install Plex Media Server on this box. Plex lets you easily create a feature rich and practical home media playback system. Some boxes offer real time transcoding functionality. That let you stream your media hustle free, based on your device speed or screen size. Please contact us to find transcoding compatibility list.

What about the Price And Warranty?

This box comes with 2 year warranty for your peace of mind and long term hardware security. This Qnap is £141.00 cheaper than the most expensive unit TVS-463-8G.

	The QNAP TS-453A   £349 ex.VAT and without HDD Media	The QNAP TVS-463 £490 ex.VAT and without HDD Media
OS	Embedded Linux	Embedded Linux
CPU	Quad-Core Intel® Celeron® N3150 1.6GHz (Burst up to 2.08GHz)	Quad-core AMD 2.4GHz
Memory (RAM)	4GB / 8GB SO-DIMM DDR3L-1600	4GB / 8GB SO-DIMM DDR3L-1600
Flash	512MB (DOM)	512MB (DOM)
Number of RAM Slots	2 (Max 8 GB)	2 (Max 16 GB)
Max. number of HDDs/SSDs	4x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s	4 x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s
Expansion Enclosure Support	1 (UX-800P, UX-500P)	2 (UX-800P, UX-500P)
Rear of the NAS
Gigabit LAN Ports	4	2 by default (expandable to 4 card upgrade)
10GbE	No	Yes (Upgradable)
Expansion Slot (PCI-E)	0	1
USB 2.0	–	–
USB 3.0	4	5
eSATA	–	–
Remote Control	Yes and included	Yes BUT Optional Extra
HDMI	2	2
LED Indicators	Power/Status, LAN, USB, HDD1-4	Power/Status, LAN, USB, HDD1-4
LCD Display/ Button	Yes	Yes
Buttons	Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy	Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy
Power Consumption Sleep Mode (W)	18.86	34.77
Power Consumption: Operating Mode	32.35	50.38
Power off (S3 Sleep)	1.61	2.26
Noise Level dB(A)	19.7	18.2
Windows Upload (MB/s)	436(MB/s) (4-LAN Link Aggregation)	425(MB/s) (4-LAN Link Aggregation)
Windows Download (MB/s)	414(MB/s) (4-LAN Link Aggregation)	425(MB/s) (4-LAN Link Aggregation)
File System: Internal Hard Drive	EXT4	EXT4
Surveillance Station	Yes	Yes
Max Number of Cameras	Default: 4, Max.: 40 (optional license purchase)	Default: 4, Max.: 40 (optional license purchase)
Mobile Surveillance App for iOS & Android	Vmobile	Vmobile
Max USB Webcam for liveview or snapshot (QUSBCam App)	2 (up to 1280×960, 5FPS)	2 (up to 1280×960, 5FPS)
Virtualization Station	Yes	Yes
Syslog Server & Client	Yes	Yes
Antivirus	Yes (Optional McAfee Antivirus available)	Yes (Optional McAfee Antivirus available)
Mail Server	Xmail, Xeams (QPKG)	Xmail, Xeams (QPKG)
VPN Server (PPTP + OpenVPN)	Yes (Max clients: 15 + 15)	Yes (Max clients: 15 + 15)
myQNAPcloud Remote Access and File Sharing	Yes	Yes
3rd Party Cloud Storage	Amazon S3/Glacier, ElephantDrive, Google Drive, Symform, Microsoft Azure	Amazon S3/Glacier, ElephantDrive, Google Drive, Symform, Microsoft Azure
Mobile Apps for iOS & Android	Qfile, Qmanager, Qphoto, Qmusic, Qnotes, VMobile, Vcam, Qremote	Qfile, Qmanager, Qphoto, Qmusic, Qnotes, VMobile, Vcam, Qremote
VMware Ready®	Yes	Yes
Citrix Ready	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Hyper-V Compatibility	Yes	Yes
Max. Number of Users	4096	4096
Max. Number of User Groups	512	512
Max. Number of Share Folders	512	512
Max. Number of Concurrent Connections	800	1000
Language	English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Czech, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, Thai, Portuguese/Brazil, Greek	English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Czech, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, Thai, Portuguese/Brazil, Greek

📧 SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER 🔔

🔒 Join Inner Circle

This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry. TRY CHAT Terms and Conditions   Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.

☕ WE LOVE COFFEE ☕