The Brand new DS418 4-Bay Synology NAS for Business and Multimedia
It has taken over two-thirds of a year, but finally we are starting to see some hot new releases from Synology in their Diskstation Desktop NAS server range. Earlier this week we saw details emerge of the DS218+, the latest addition to their flagship 2-bay + series. Today we want to talk about a brand new 4-Bay NAS for 2017 and 2018 NAS buyers, the DS418. A 4-Bay NAS that follows the rather overlooked DS416 NAS from back in 2016. However before you zone out and think that the DS418 NAS is not worth your time, take a look below over some of the improvements over the last year and a bit – Synology have really started to up their game with regard to both the CPU and Memory of choice in their standard 4-Bay NAS server
What are the specs of the Synology DS418 NAS Server?
The first couple of improvements that have really caught my eye are related to the CPU and Memory of the device. The older Synology DS416 J arrived with an Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-212 processor. This was a 32-bit dual core CPU with a frequency of 1.4HGz. Not exactly earth shatteringly powerful. However the new Synology DS418 NAS more than doubled this in so, so many ways. It arrives with the Realtek RTD1296, another ARM based CPU, that arrives in Quad Core AND at a frequency of 1.4GHz. So more cores, more efficient CPU and a better architecture. that isn’t the only big leap. The Memory has been vastly improved too. In the rather lackluster and a pinch underwhelming DS416 NAS it arrived with just 1GB of DDR3 memory (not terrible, but not great). Whereas Synology has really pulled the stops out on the standard unit by including 2GB of DDR4 Memory! So once again, twice the power and twice the efficiency – You really have to give Synology credit on this one, it is an impressive leap from its predecessor.
What else has changed in the DS418 NAS from Synology
Although a number of the other features have remained the same, the other big improvement is in the chassis. Like the Synology DS918+ that was uncovered at CeBit 2017, the Synology DS418 will use the new 4-Bay Tray access chassis. This is a very compact, ventilated case with an emphasis on modernism and i was super impressed with it when i saw it in June and am more so now that Synology are using it more. tHis coupled with those improved specs means that the performance of this unit is far greater than the DS416. Also arriving with dual 1GBe LAN ports, if you enable Link Aggregation enabled, the Synology DS418 delivers outstanding performance with a read speed of 226MB/ s and a write speed of 170 MB/s. Alongside this the unit arrives with hardware-accelerated encryption, So the DS418 provides encrypted data throughput with read speeds in excess of 220MB/s and 130 MB/sec write. An impressive upgrade over the original DS416 NAS.
What can the Synology DS418 NAS do with that new CPU?
The original DS416 NAS was almost exclusively aimed at those have simple file server and low media needs – as you would expect from the modest hardware it arrived with. However the new DS418 NAS features the sort of software abilities you would associate with a PLUS or PLAY series NAS. The DS418 supports 4K H.265 10-bit video transcoding for improved media access between different media platforms and output. In real terms that means that if your network or internet enabled playback device is not capable of 4K video play, the Synology DS418 NAS will provide 4K online video transcoding to 1080p or lower resolution (for iPhones, mobile Android devices and the like) for a smoother video performance, as well as saving data and reducing file sizes for streaming.
The Synology DS418 4-Bay NAS – £330+ without VAT and HDD media
- Expected Release Date – End of 2017
- New Chassis
- 4-Bay NAS
- Realtek RTD1296 Quad Core 1.4GHz
- 2GB DDR4
- In terms of connectivity, this NAS has 3x USB 3.0 ports, 2 Gigabit network ports
- 4K Transcoding
- SHR Support
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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.(Early Access) Minisforum MGA1 7600M XT eGPU Docking Station Review
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