Thecus N4800Eco 4-Bay NAS Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

As a new and updated system, the Eco has taken over where the straight up N4800 left off so any supplies of the older system should now have dried up. This does make comparing the price point today a little difficult, although gauging by the prices mentioned in some older reviews of the N4800, the Eco, which is priced at around $540 in the US and £440 in the UK through Amazon, is around £40 / $85 cheaper than before.

Overview

As we would expect there is not a lot to talk about specification wise over the N4800 bar the tweak that has been made to the processor. The change from the D2700 Atom chip to the D2701 may not seem all that important, especially when they are very similar in spec and performance, the power saving that is achieved is very remarkable. The lower power consumption does not mean that the performance is any worse off though, The Eco may not be the fastest NAS that I’ve looked at, but it is still a strong performer none-the-less.

Around the system the feature set is also impressive with virtually all the same options on offer that are to be found on the N4200Pro which I looked at a couple of years back. The dual front displays deliver a lot of information on the systems current status, although the front panel buttons could be a little more intuitive to be honest. Round the back there is plenty of connectivity options and the pair of clips that guide the power cable round the fan and down the other side of the chassis is a welcomed touch over interfering with the rear I/O.

The one thing that does let the Eco down for me however is the integration of the older OS. Although this is not a system primarily aimed at the SOHO market, the more recent revisions of Thecus’ operating system are far more intuitive and with the flexibility to install more add-on packages, for the consumer that does opt for this model, it would be preferred.

As a performance system though, considering the fact that this is now close to a year old, or two now if you look at the release date of the N4800; it is still a good performing system. Granted the power consumption is still not quite as low as some of the more recent additions to the market and the OS could also do with a refresh to bring it up to date, but as a system with grunt, it’s still got what it takes in this respect.

Pros:

• Strong levels of performance
• Capacity to upgrade to 10GbE if desired
• Lockable drive bays
• Solid build quality

Cons:

• Operating system is a bit yester-year
• Power consumption not quite as low as today’s standards

“The N4800Eco may be around a year old now, but it still has what it takes to be a great performing system. Its power consumption and software features may not quite be up to today’s standards, so if performance is all you want then you can’t go far wrong.”

Thanks to Thecus for providing us with this review sample.