Our NAS user experience has been limited to just one brand since we began looking this sector but today our eyes have been opened to the other options which are available by way of QNAP’s solutions and its evident we’re mightily impressed.

Time and again we see good products with good hardware hitting the market but which are let down by poor software development – fine tuning both of these elements will guarantee success and this is where QNAP has managed to pull through. From a visual standpoint both the 231 and 451 are classy-looking network devices and inside, both utilise dual-core processors and fast DRAM. The hardware is always the foundation for such a device so it’s great to see components which are more than up to the job of performing demanding tasks which are oriented around multi-tasking.

At the time of writing this review the 231 and 451 are both able to utilise QNAP’s OS - QTS 4.2. This software suite is one which places particular emphasis on productivity which spans across multiple platforms. QTS is feature-rich and covers a wide-selection of possibilities whether you are seeking a central system for storing your data, VPN services, DLNA media station or managing a group of surveillance devices – there is plenty of flexibility for varied uses. If you’d like to know how QTS looks and what it offers, please check out our video overview on the previous pages.


In our review we tested out the Qfile android app by streaming HD video from the QNAP NAS and viewing some pictures. Although there are a few steps prior to playback, this highlights how versatile QNAP’s solutions are – with the added bonus of being able to transcode to different qualities for devices which require varied quality options.

The TS-231 is priced at £119 GBP / $250 USD while the TS-451 is £304 GBP $440 USD – Perhaps slightly more expensive than rival options out there which are also two-bay and four-bay variants but the QNAP solutions are faster than these competitors due to the core hardware specifications.

QNAP’s TS-231 and TS-451 are two stylish NAS units which are ideal for any home network environment. If you’re looking to get the most out of your network and require innovative features at your finger-tips then look no further!


Click here for an explanation of our awards at Vortez.net.