QNAP TS-453 Mini NAS Review

Bohs Hansen / 9 years ago

Final Thoughts

Pricing

US-based customers might still have someone of a hard time locating the QNAP TS-453 mini NAS, but it is available for a cost. Amazon has this 8GB model that I’ve just reviewed listed for $2031 while the 2GB model costs $1586. Moving on to Europe and it looks a bit better. UK customers can find it at Amazon for £489.99 and £379.99 for the 8G and 2G models respectively. German readers can find starting at €632 and €495.

Overview

The QNAP TS-453 mini is a truly unique NAS with its shape and internal build-up. That doesn’t make it any worse than other NAS, in fact, it makes it better. The smaller footprint, easy to access drives and memory as well as a silent operation make this a perfect NAS for both home and offices. On top of the beautiful black design, it’s also silent and you’ll barely notice it even if it’s located right next to you.

The TS-453 mini otherwise comes with all the features that we’re used to from QNAP, that aren’t few. The NAS features comprehensive cloud and backup solutions, antivirus and firewall, router and UPnP setups, media streaming, and so much more on top of just offering up files on your network.

The CPU is a powerful Intel dual-core CPU with 2GHz and both floating point and hardware encryption. This makes it a very fast unit and we barely saw any performance impact when encrypting our drives. That coupled with the 8GB RAM and you won’t run out of performance anytime soon.

The QvPC technology is amazing, it allows you to use the NAS directly as HTPC for browsing and media playback as well as playing games and more. Just attach a keyboard, mouse, and monitor and you’re ready to go. On top of that, this NAS even comes with an infrared remote. But wait, there is more. You can also install any other operating system on the NAS that you’d like, in a virtual environment. May it be Linux, Android, Windows, or anything else – not a problem. That is just awesome.

Dual LAN can be used for all methods of link aggregation and failover protection, but only if you don’t use the Virtualization station as that will require one of the connections on its own. The USB 3.0 ports allow you to connect extra storage, printers, and much more.

Pros:

Great performance
Intel 2GHz dual-core and 8GB RAM
Hardware encryption
Easy RAM and HDD access and installation
Silent and small
QvPC for VM and HTPC usage
Dual LAN, USB 3.0, HDMI

Cons:

no eSATA

Neutral

VM needs a dedicated LAN port

“The QNAP TS-453 mini is everything you know from other NAS’, just a little bit better and a little bit smaller – and it’s quite the looker at the same time.”