INTRODUCTION

   With just hours before we say goodbye to 2015 and embrace 2016 i decided to upload yet another review (our last of 2015) mainly because i met some people the other day who knew nothing about network attached storage devices (NAS). I mean not owning one but having a general idea is one thing (happens all the time really) but not knowing that such devices even exist is strange especially since these people have been following technology for at least over a decade now. Anyways these guys are looking for an easy way to share files with their friends and families (both online and local), download large chunks of data over the internet without using their computers and if possible to playback downloaded data directly onto their home theater and portable devices. My answer to them was to simply wait and read this review once up to see what NAS servers are capable off and what better way to deliver on that than for us to test the latest model by QNAP the TurboNAS TS-451+8G.

   QNAP Systems, Inc., as its brand promise "Quality Network Appliance Provider", aims to deliver comprehensive offerings of cutting edge network attached storage (NAS) and network video recorder (NVR) solutions featured with ease-of-use, robust operation, large storage capacity, and trustworthy reliability. QNAP integrates technologies and designs to bring forth quality products that effectively improve business efficiency on file sharing, virtualization applications, storage management and surveillance in the business environments, as well as enrich entertainment life for home users with the offering of a fun multimedia center experience. Headquartered in Taipei, QNAP delivers its solutions to the global market with nonstop innovation and passion.

   QNAP has been releasing more models lately than ever before and as a result some of those models are actually very close in terms of specifications and even closer when it comes to offered features (check the TS-453Mini for example). With that small notice out of the way the latest TS-451+8G wears the same J1900 quad-core Intel Celeron SoC model (64Bit/22nm/2MB L2 Cache) running at 2GHz (2.41GHz boost) we've seen used in NAS servers quite a lot lately (the Intel® HD Graphics Mesa DRI Bay Trail running at 688MHz takes care of the graphics/playback end) along with 8GB of DDR3L RAM (running at 1600MHz) and 512MB of flash memory. The TS-451+8G also features 4 SATA III drive bays (for 3.5" and 2.5" drives), 2 USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 2 RJ-45 Gigabit LAN ports, HDMI v1.4a port and a build-in IR sensor which can be used with their RM-IR002 remote control (included in the bundle). As for the software-end of the TS-451+8G we decided to test it with the latest QTS 4.2.1 Beta by QNAP which among the usual features it also offers the previously seen virtualization station which you can use to install multiple OS onto the NAS (Windows included) and the ability to run both LXC and Docker virtualization technologies (you can use LXC to load Linux virtual machines) via the brand new Container station (can also be used to deploy LibreOffice, MongoDB, Nginx, Node.js, Redis, MySQL, WordPress, Deluge, Minecraft, Wine, Jenkins, GitLab, Redmine, Joomla!, and much more).