New QNAP TS-x53DU 2.5Gbe Rackmount NAS Series for Business
QNAP really seems to be hitting the releases hard right now, setting their stall out early for their planned hardware for 2020. The D series marks the latest generation of NAS hardware from the big Q and this newest release seems to easily be the most formidable of the TS-x51D range yet, the new QNAP TS-x53DU is a 4, 8 and 12-Bay rackmount series that manages to really, REALLY pack in the hardware features. This is not the first mid-range business rackmount from QNAP that we have seen, but with a whole bunch of hardware choices aimed at seemingly raising the standard hardware in 2020, From 2.5Gbe to improvements that open the door to SSD Caching and a CPU that’s now fast becoming the benchmark for the 2020 NAS scene, this is certainly something that will prick the ears up of business users who are looking for a more compact solution, on a budget. Let’s take a look.
What are the Hardware Specifications of the QNAP TS-453DU, TS-853DU and TS-1253DU NAS?
Let’s get straight to the good stuff – the hardware. When I first got wind of the QNAP TS-x53DU series I was a little surprised that I hadn’t heard about this sooner. The desktop TS-253D, TS-453D and TS-653D have now all been officially revealed and this new range of rackmount alternatives seems like a forgone conclusion. However, in the case of the TS-x53DU QNAP NAS range, it serves as a follow up to the popular TS-53BU series before, performing the same hardware jump in generations we have seen in the 53B desktop equivalents. You can see alot of long term choice has been put into this NAS development, taking advantage of a new processor revision inside, as well as upping the ante with the network connectivity, there is a heck of alot crammed into this family of devices and it certainly is upping the game from what their rivals Synology are providing in similar SMB targetted rackmounts, such as the RS419, RS820+ and RS1220+. Let’s takes a closer look:
- Intel Celeron J4125
- 2.0GHz (Burst to 2.7Ghz) per core
- Quad-Core Processor
- Intel UHD Embedded Graphics 600
- 4GB/8GB DDR4 SODIMM RAM (2 slots, max 8GB)
- 2 x 2.5GbE Ports
- PCIe Gen 2 x2 Slot for Upgrade Cards
- Redundant and non-redundant options in the TS-453DU/TS-453DU-RP
- Both the 8-Bay and 12-Bay (TS-853DU & TS-1253DU) are Redundant PSU equipped
- 2x USB 3.1 Ports for Storage Expandability with the TR and TL expansion series
- 2x USB 2.0 Ports for connected peripheral devices
- 4, 8 and 12-Bays of SATA Storage
- An HDMI 1.4b Port
What are the Software Specifications of the QNAP TS-x53DU NAS Series?
Unsurprisingly, the hardware inside each of the TS-453DU, TS-853DU and TS-1253DU NAS allow for a greater range of software applications (both first and third party) than the majority of affordable NAS devices in this price range. This software is included in the price of the TS-x53DU family and is easily one of the best user interfaces and operating systems that are available for those users in both home and business circles. it is important to understand that when you buy any of the TS-x53DU server series (or indeed any QNAP NAS), it arrives with the QTS software platform, with constant updates and hundreds of applications included. These are all tested and maintained 1st party QNAP apps and 3rd party applications. This is further improved with desktop client programs for PC/Mac and mobile applications for iOS and Android – ALL INCLUDED and downloadable at any time. The TS-453DU, TS-853DU and TS-1253DU can perform most modern applications that you would want from a modern NAS, such as:
QNAP QTS 4.4.1 File Highlights
- File Station
- QSirch
- QFiling
- SSD Caching
- QTier
- Microsoft Active Directory Support
- Access-Anywhere with myQNAPcloud
- Qsync for multiple hardware environment backups and Sync
Key Applications on the QNAP TS-x53DU
- Hybrid Backup Sync 3 – Allows you to Backup and Sync with Amazon Glacier, Amazon S3, Azure Storage, Google Cloud Storage, HKT Object Storage, OpenStack Swift, WebDAV, Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Drive, Amazon S3, BackBlaze B2, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, HiDrive, hubiC, OneDrive, OneDrive For Business, ShareFile and Yandex Disk. As well as backup to another NAS over real time remote replication (RTRR) and USB connected media. All scheduled and all accessible via a single app user interface.
- QuMagie – Facial and Thing recognition application to help you retrieve, tag and catalogue photos by its use of AI to actually ‘view’ all your years of photos and let you search by the contents of them, not the file names.
- HD Station – The complete HDMI user interface, with it’s own applications and access. It can also be accessed via your web browsers and configured via the NAS
- vJBOD and Hybrid Mount – Gives you the ability to mount cloud storage as a visible drive within the NAS (and the apps access it as if it was local) or mount a % of space from your NAS onto another as a virtual chunk of space to use
- Multimedia Console – one portal access point to manage media access, searching, indexing and transcoding on your NAS device.
- Photo, Video and Music Station – Multiple file type tailored applications to access data in the best possible way that is suited to their output – along with smart searching, playlists and sharing
- Virtualization Station – Used to create virtual computers that can be accessed anywhere over the network/internet with the correct credentials. Supporting Windows, Linux, Android and more. You can import an existing VM image to the NAS, or you can even download Linux and Windows VMs directly to the NAS for trials for free
- Container Station – much like the VM app, Container station lets you mount and access smaller virtual tools and GUIs, then access them over the network or internet.
- Linux Station – Handy application to deploy multiple Linux based Ubuntu VMs from the NAS, all easily and within a few clicks
- QVR Pro and Surveillance Station – Surveillance applications that allow you to connect multiple IP cameras and IP speaks to your network and manage them with the applications. Arriving with 4 camera licenses for Surveillance Station and 8 for QVR Pro (the better one IMO), QNAP is constantly updating this enterprise-level surveillance application – adding newer security hardware and software tools for 2020 (see QVR Face and QVR Door)
- Download Station – A download management tool that can handle HTTP, BT, FTP and NZB files in bulk to be downloaded to your NAS drive and keep safe. As well as keeping an eye on your RSS feeds and keeping your podcast downloads automatically updated with every episode
- Malware Removers and Security Councillor – Along with Anti Virus software trials on the app centre, QNAP also provide numerous anti-intrusion tools and even a whole app interface to monitor in/outgoing transmissions with your NAS. It can make recommendations to beef up your security and keep you safe.
Previous Generation TS-453BU NAS
When will the QNAP TS-x53DU NAS Product Family be Released and it’s Price?
Like many of the new releases that I am hearing about in NAS for 2020, the TS-x53DU would appear to have a relatively soon release window (within the next month or so). After the relative silence of 2019 with regard to most of the NAS brands, it is clear that QNAP is setting their stall out as early as possible and now 5 months into the year, I think we can consider the bulk of the 53D and 51D series has been revealed (though I am sure there are a couple of sneaky 2.5″ equipped models in the pipeline). Right now, the only alternative that you can consider from QNAP in their new D series for 2020, would be the new TS-451DeU NAS 4-Bay that we revealed a few months ago. Click below to find out more about it:
With regard to price on the TS-453DU NAS series, however, that is more of a mystery at this stage. The different rackmount series from QNAP has always been very diverse in terms of hardware, featuring solutions across each product family – all arriving with a different hardware focus in mind – which means the price differs greatly. The TS-x53DU brings alot of NEW hardware to the table, but within a more affordable mid-range NAS product family, so the price is really tough to predict (as it does not want to tread on the toes of Xeon and Ryzen equipped models in the tiers above, or ruin the pricing of ARM-powered rackmounts in tiers below. At a pinch, I would say that the TS-x53DU NAS series rackmounts will arrive with an entry point of at around the £700+ mark without tax for the 4-Bay (perhaps more for a redundant PSU version where possible) and scaling accordingly at around £200-300 jumps at each storage tier, but this is by no means confirmed. We will have to wait and see.
What is the Alternative to the QNAP TS-453DU, TS-853DU and TS-1283DU NAS if I cannot wait?
As mentioned, the TS-x53DU product range is a very unique mix of much more powerful hardware than normal for a range traditionally understood to be more ‘affordable’ to mid-range users who want a decent Intel CPU and it’s floating-point and graphics embedding, as well as the hardware options that it opens up – yet do not want to allocate a significant chunk of their annual budget to a device far outside their needs. Right now, I would say that the best alternative, for those that cannot wait for the release of the TS-x53DU QNAP NAS range is the TS-x53BU series. Arriving in multiple versions, supporting PCIe, HDMI Support, a quad-core Intel J3455 CPU and a redundant PSU option, it is still remarkably popular.
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