QNAP TS-251 High-Performance 2-Bay Prosumer NAS Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

At the time of writing, the QNAP’s TS-251 Turbo NAS can be found at NewEgg for $384.99, at Scan UK for £295.32, or through Geizhals starting at €284.

Overview

QNAP has really outdone themselves and created an amazing NAS. The TS-251 is compact thanks to the 2-bay design, yet scalable through expansion units if the need for more bays should rise. The dual-core Intel CPU provides plenty of performance for the unit and with 4GB DDR3 RAM, that is expandable, you’re able to run a lot of things at the same time, including Virtual Machines.

The TS-251 could be classified as a budget high-performance NAS as you get all the performance in a slightly less elegant package over the more expensive units. The drive trays aren’t tool-less and don’t feature fancy spring-loaded drive trays either. A memory upgrade also requires a little more effort, but in return you save a lot of money; a trade that could be well worth it.

The performance was top throughout the benchmarks as clearly seen in the charts on the previous pages. One thing worth highlighting here is the encryption performance that is equal to a non-encrypted volume. Whether you chose to protect the volume with an encryption or not, you’ll effectively not feel a difference; this is a big bonus.

With USB 3.0 ports and Dual Gigabit Ethernet connections, you can connect extra storage and achieve better connectivity. The addition of the HDMI port and the QvPC technology makes it even better. You can use the NAS directly as a PC and run Virtual Machines off it. Connect a monitor or TV, mouse and keyboard, and you’re ready to go; you can also initialize the NAS this way without the need for any other system.

The TS-251 Turbo NAS would be a great base unit for almost any multimedia needs whether it’s streaming or cataloging. QNAP has server and client apps for almost everything from DLNA over Plex Server, to KODI and XMBC as well as mobile apps to go along with it. Whether it’s local via HDMI or remote via a network or the internet, you got the control.

Pros:

• Great Performance with and without encryption
• QvPC for direct usage as PC and VM host
• Intel dual-core CPU and 4GB RAM
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet
• Scalable through USB 3.0 expansion units
• Almost everything on Streaming and Media features

Cons:

• RAM upgrade takes some work
• No tool-less installation

“QNAP’s TS-251 Turbo NAS offers more features and performance than you would expect from the price. A small yet scalable multimedia genius that should satisfy most prosumers needs.”

Thank You QNAP for providing us with this review sample.