CONCLUSION

   It's been slightly over a year since i last had any contact with a Synology solution and so going from DSM 3.2 to DSM 4.2 was a big surprise for me since Synology has performed countless improvements and has also added many more features. Certainly the entire GUI although improved will not be a stranger to people who have used an Synology NAS server in the past and that's very good since obviously Synology thinks of that each and every time they improve it. This is largely also why although the DiskStation DS213+ may not have the most stellar hardware specifications still it did manage to come really close to the performance of other more hardware-rich (and expensive) solutions present in our charts with much less electrical demands and lower noise levels. The feature-rich software packages along with the DS android/iOS compatible apps are without doubt the backbone of the DS213+ and offer everything we could have ever hoped to see with a NAS server. However we do hope that Synology will keep improving the Video Station and more specifically its ability to handle heavy bitrate MKV files (so if you fast forward it will not need 10-20s for that to happen. Honestly i have nothing really bad to say about the DS213+ although it would be nice if it had a 2nd gigabit LAN connection and an HDMI output for the more demanding users.

   We may be currently giving away one Synology DiskStation DS213+ but that aside i am pretty certain that many of you will be quite happy to hear that this impressive NAS server currently retails for a very tempting price tag of USD399 inside the USA (Purchase Directly From Amazon.com) and 345Euros inside the EU (Purchase Directly from Amazon.co.uk). Granted the DiskStation DS213+ was not designed with people who want an NAS server to double as a media server and so if an HDMI output is a must for you (along with XBMC) then the DS213+ is obviously not suited for your needs. However for people who care not about that HDMI output or a second gigabit LAN then i really doubt there's anything better in the market currently (both in terms of performance and functionality) at around that price point and that's why the DiskStation DS213+ gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Very Good Performance
- Dual Core CPU (Freescale P1022)
- Gigabit Ethernet Port
- 2 USB 3.0 Ports
- eSATA Port
- Synology Hybrid RAID, Single, JBOD, RAID0/1 Support
- DiskStation Manager
- IP Camera Support
- DS Android/iOS Apps
- Power Consumption
- Noise Levels
- Price (For Some) 

CONS

- No HDMI Output
- Single Gigabit LAN
- Slight Video Playback Issues (With Heavy Bitrate Files)