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.”
Thank you QNAP for providing us with this review sample.
This is a really great NAS review guys, in fact I would say that it is probably the best I have read on the net so far, and equally rivals and exceeds the top sites for detail. I will bookmark this site for future reviews, and you have pretty much convinced me to buy this NAS over the TS-453 Pro. 🙂
I must also point out that you say in your “Pro’s” list that this NAS is dual-core, when it is in fact quad-core. This needs correcting.
However you really need to update the pricing for the US, as the ones you link to on Amazon for $1500+ are simply ridiculous and it can be had for less than 600USD. I hope that for ethical reasons you have no personal ties or interest with the sellers charging the outrageous prices that you quoted.