compare

SOFTWARE - 10/10
HARDWARE - 7/10
PERFORMANCE - 8/10
PRICE - 8/10
VALUE - 8/10

8.2

PROS

👍🏻Remarkably compact rackmount server with a 10GbE Option
👍🏻Very quiet for a rackmount server
👍🏻Default ECC Memory will be hugely reassuring
👍🏻DSM 7.1 is still hands-down the best NAS software out there
👍🏻Storage services such as BTRFS/EXT4 Option, Synology Hybrid RAID Support and Fast RAID Rebuild
👍🏻Very high build quality and slick design

CONS

👎🏻Lack of M.2 NVMe slots
👎🏻No Expansion Support
👎🏻Odd brand position on HDDs and SSDs
👎🏻CPU Choice is divisive
👎🏻Default 2GB of memory cannot up upgraded

SOFTWARE - 7/10
HARDWARE - 7/10
PERFORMANCE - 6/10
PRICE - 7/10
VALUE - 8/10

7.0

PROS

👍🏻Affordable 10Gbe LAN Ports
👍🏻Snapshot Replication
👍🏻AI Photo Recognition
👍🏻DLNA Support
👍🏻Apple Time Machine Support
👍🏻Surveillance including 4 camera licences and supporting 10-12 cameras at once
👍🏻iTunes Server
👍🏻Snapshot Support (previously the memory requirement was 4GB, but now reduced to 1GB)
👍🏻Email server
👍🏻Download server (FTP, HTTP, BT,NZB)
👍🏻CMS and CRM systems
👍🏻Media Center support

CONS

👎🏻Design is a pinch dated
👎🏻CPU is 32bit ARM
👎🏻Lack of embedded GPU limits application support in QTS

SOFTWARE - 8/10
HARDWARE - 8/10
PERFORMANCE - 8/10
PRICE - 7/10
VALUE - 8/10

7.8

PROS

👍🏻Very compact chassis design, despite large storage potential
👍🏻A BIG jump in hardware and scale from the QNAP TS-451D
👍🏻Easily one of the most hardware-packed SMB/Mid-range 2-Bay on the market
👍🏻HDMI 2.1 Support is fantastically future-proof!
👍🏻m.2 NVMe SSD Bays AND a PCIe Upgrade Slot (no need to choose one upgrade path)
👍🏻8x Included Camera Licenses
👍🏻Includes Anti-virus, Firewall Tool, VPN client tools, Malware Remover, network manager and Security Councilor Tool
👍🏻3 Different Container/VM tools that also feature image download centers
👍🏻10Gb/s (1,000MB/s) USB Ports will be incredibly useful
👍🏻Large range of expansion options in the TR/TL series in 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 Bays

CONS

👎🏻The PCIe Slot is PCIe 3x2 and the M.2 SSD Bays are PCIe 3x1 (likely limitations of all this H/W on a Celeron+chipset
👎🏻HD Station application needs more updates by the brand
👎🏻Base 2GB Memory is quite small!
👎🏻Software can be a little inconsistent under excessive use and features a steeper learning curve than Synology