INTRODUCTION

   When i first started using and testing NAS (network attached storage) devices well over 5 years ago their specifications couldn't compare to even the most entry level notebook and honestly back then there really was little need for anything more than that since most people used them as download servers, file sharing servers and in some rare cases for hosting pages. However things have changed a lot nowadays and so with the increase in need for serious processing power there are NAS devices out in the market as we speak with specifications equal to those of a high-end notebook or even a mid-end desktop system (minus the graphics card, for now at least). Of course because of their very high price tags (and in some cases large size) such devices are primarily aimed towards enterprise and business users who can really use the extra punch with heavy workloads. ASUSTOR recently announced their AS70xxT ultra high-end series and today with us we have the 4 bay AS7004T NAS model.

   Founded in 2011, ASUSTOR Inc., a subsidiary of ASUSTeK Computer Inc., is a leading innovator and provider of private cloud storage (network attached storage) and video surveillance (network video recorder) solutions. ASUSTOR is devoted to providing the world with unparalleled user experiences and the most complete set of network storage solutions possible.

   Some of you may recall our review of another ultra-high-end model by ASUSTOR the AS-608T which performed extremely well and left most of its competition in the dust. Well compared to that the new AS70xxT series is in a league of its own especially in terms of specifications something which we did expect roughly two years later. So this time over ASUSTOR has used a very fast Intel Core i3-4330 CPU running at 3.5GHz (once again we see the Mesa DRI Intel(R) Haswell Desktop with OpenGL version 3.0 and Mesa version 10.0.0 taking care of the video part) along with 2GB of SO-DIMM DDR3 RAM (expandable up to 16GB). ASUSTOR didn't stop there however and so they have also improved on the connectivity of the NAS so on this model we see 3 USB 3.0 ports, 2 USB 2.0 ports, 2 eSATA ports, HDMI v1.4a output, optical S/PDIF audio output and two Gigabit RJ-45 Ethernet ports. Also thanks to the powerful CPU used, the HDMI v1.4a video output and the brand new version 13 of the well-known XBMC player the AS70xxT series can reproduce 4k content (max resolution of 2160p) and although it will take some time before such content becomes widely available for real still it's an very impressive feature. So the time has come for us to see what the 4 bay model of the flagship NAS line by ASUSTOR is capable of.