Nimbustor4 AS5304T vs DS918+

I am trying to decide between Nimbustor4 and DS918, I already have 2 wd red drives to make a start. This will be used mainly for plex being watched remotely (in my caravan), possibly transcoding 4k in the future but only 1080p for now. I ‘ve been running xpenology on my laptop for a while and am impressed with the ease of use, tried using demo on asustor but found it bit slow and clunky, although could be due to internet connection, as it looks ok on your comparison video. My main question is can the DS918 transcode better because it allows plex access to cpu will I not notice difference. Must admit I’m drawn to numbustor because of hardware, value and looks.

Both of these NAS models are very similar. None of these are capable of transcoding 4K in Plex. It does just fine 720p and 1080p though. But you can transcode 4K for remote streaming with their own app DS Video and Asustor video app. No problem with that.

In comparison, Asustor model is almost 20% faster. But heir mobile apps are not as good as Synology ones. But if you plan on using third-party apps anyway then hardware is all you should care about.

Otherwise, Synology comes with great apps for backing up not only your computers but also mobile devices. It also features SSD cache slots for improved performance (not improving Plex transcoding).

Asustor HDMI port is very handy if you got some old TV which needs to be transformed into a smart TV. Or simply if you do not want to stream heavy 4K files over the Wifi and slow it down.

I hope this helps.