Introduction

We would like to thank QNAP for supplying the review sample.



The TS-453B comes with an OLED screen and a pair of capacitive buttons at its face, but hides more than meets the eye. Inside it is a spare PCIe slot that can accommodate QNAP's QM2 expansion card. There are four versions of this card: the QM2-2S, QM2-2P, QM2-2S10G1T, and QM2-2P10G1T. The most advanced QM2 expansion card offers dual M.2 SSD slots and 10GbE connectivity, which adds incredibly fast M.2 cache and the possibility of 10GbE connectivity with the network to the unit.

The TS-453B doesn't look like any of QNAP's older servers, including the TS-453A. By utilizing both Gigabit Ethernet ports, this NAS can achieve over 200 MB/s read and write (download/upload) speeds, and because of the Intel Celeron J3455 quad-core CPU, which supports the AES-NI instruction set, QNAP states even encrypted file transfers to exceed 200 MB/s speeds. This is something we will test for using our own tools and methodology, but this CPU does in fact support AES-NI, which will have it perform much better than CPUs without the support for the instruction set.

Specifications

A quad-core Intel Celeron J3455 is the brains of the NAS. The TDP of this CPU is only 10 W, so it doesn't need active cooling, which means less noise. This CPU supports up to 8 GB, and there are two versions of the TS-453B, one with 4 GB and another with 8 GB pre-installed. The problem with the 4 GB version, which we had, is that it uses 2x 2 GB SODIMMs, which means you can't use any of these SODIMMs if you want to upgrade the server's memory total since there are only two memory slots.

The TS-453B is equipped with numerous I/O ports, including five USB 3.0, two HDMI 1.4b, a pair of Gigabit Ethernet, and audio input/output, and there's even a free PCIe x2 slot you could use to install fast M.2 SSDs and a 10 Gbit Ethernet port for lighting fast network transfer speeds (provided you have a compatible network switch of course). This NAS also packs an IR receiver, and QNAP threw a compatible remote control into the bundle to make sure you can take full advantage of the server's multimedia capabilities. Lastly, a small OLED screen also equips the TS-453B. This is an extra some users might find useful since it provides access to some controls right at the face of the NAS.

The server's dimensions are compact since an external power brick with a capacity of 90 W is used, which is easily enough. Cooling is handled by a single 120 mm fan QNAP says to only produce 18.8 dBA while spinning at its lowest speed setting. The provided warranty is again two years long and both TS-453B models are priced quite stiffly; however, do take into account that you aren't just paying for the hardware, but the software and support QNAP provides along with this product.