CONCLUSION

   When we decided to also focus on single bay solutions it took us a while to select the TurboNAS TS-121 NAS Server and that was because having already tested its dual-bay brother the TS-221 we thought there was no reason in doing so. Well our results showed that we were right on the spot since both solutions are next to each other in every single chart from performance and HDD temperatures to power consumption and noise levels. However it's a fact that the TS-121 has several differences with the TS-221 including an extra bay, larger exhaust fan and one more eSATA port so although both models are of the same line they are far from identical. However it wasn't a completely smooth ride and so we did encounter one single problem with the latest firmware version and the TS-121 when we tried to use the surveillance station since it would finish downloading but then we'd get an error message saying that the OS was unable to locate the downloaded package. We tried that 4 times with the same result so we can only hope that this is an isolated event (if not and it has also happened to you then you need to contact QNAP support).

   At a current price tag of USD240.77 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and 230Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) the TurboNAS TS-121 by QNAP may not be the cheapest single bay NAS server in the market but aside being quite powerful it's also roughly 30% cheaper compared to its dual-bay brother the TS-221 model. Overall although the TS-121 is aimed at home and small office use it still is very fast and offers the features, OS and support only a manufacturer like QNAP can offer. True there are much better solutions out there if you're willing to spend more but for its intended use and target audience the TurboNAS TS-121 is a clear winner and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

PROS

- Excellent Build Quality
- Good Performance
- Features
- 1GB DDR3 RAM
- 3 USB Ports (2xUSB 3.0 / 1xUSB 2.0)
- eSATA Port
- QTS 4.1.0 OS
- QTS IP Camera Support
- Android/iOS Apps
- Power Consumption
- Noise Levels (Compared To Other QNAP Models)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- No HDMI Output