INTRODUCTION

   NAS popularity is increasing by the day largely thanks to the number of new models’ manufacturers are launching into the market every year. Of course, as mentioned in previous reviews in order to reduce development costs manufacturers sometimes take older models and equip them with newer components not only in order to be able to cope with whatever potential buyers may need them for but also in order to compete with newer models released by the competition. This of course is nothing new since we see it all the time in most areas of the industry from electronics like TV screens, speaker systems and PC related products up to even cars so it's really nothing to be surprised about. ASUSTOR released the AS3102T NAS back in early 2016 and just like several other of their models they decided to give it a boost by upgrading its hardware components and releasing it once again as the AS3102T V2 model in late 2018 (and yes it did take a while for it to find its way to our lab).

   Founded in 2011, ASUSTOR Inc. was established via direct investment from ASUSTeK Computer Inc. The ASUSTOR brand name was created as a portmanteau of “ASUS” and “Storage”. ASUSTOR is a leading innovator and provider of private cloud storage (network attached storage) and video surveillance (network video recorder) solutions, also specializing in the development and integration of related firmware, hardware and applications. We are devoted to providing the world with an unparalleled user experience and the most complete set of network storage solutions possible.

   Under the hood of the original AS3102T ASUSTOR had paired the Intel Celeron N3050 dual-core CPU (clocked at 1.6GHz - 64 Bit model with 2MB of L2 cache and a burst speed of up to 2.16GHz) with a total of 2GB DDR3L RAM running at 1600MHz (not expandable) and a 512MB flash DOM. The AS3102T V2 on the other hand is equipped with the faster Intel Celeron J3060 dual-core CPU (clocked at 1.6GHz - 64 Bit model with 2MB of L2 cache and a burst speed of up to 2.48GHz) but still has the same 2GB DDR3L RAM running at 1600MHz (not expandable) and the same 512MB flash DOM. In terms of available connectors whereas the AS3102T came with three USB 3.0 ports, single RJ45 Ethernet port and a single HDMI v1.4b port the AS3102T V2 has three USB 3.0 ports, two RJ45 Ethernet ports (with support for link aggregation) and a HDMI 1.4b port. So, time to continue with today's review and see if the last year's AS3102T V2 is a worthy successor to the first AS3102T released 3+ years ago.