Exterior

The NAS server's externals have nothing in common with those of the TS-453A. We like this new external design, which is elegant and more home-oriented. At the face of the NAS are the power and copy buttons, USB 3.0 and USB Type-C ports, a small OLED screen, and two capacitive buttons.


The front-bay cover can easily be removed.


A sticker on top of the NAS covers its HDD sequence.


The large sticker on the server's side holds the cloud key and instructions on how to initialize the NAS.


The server sits on four rubber feet.


You will find lots of I/O ports around the back. There are four USB 3.0 ports, two audio and two HDMI ports, a pair of Gigabit Ethernet ports, power input, and a Kensington lock. In the top-left corner is a cover for the PCIe expansion slot.


We removed all trays in order to install our disks.


Forget the quality metallic trays of the TS-453A - this one has lower quality plastic trays. There is also no sound-dampening material, which the trays for the TS-453A did include. Finally, although QNAP classifies this NAS as one for the SMB (small and medium-sized businesses) environment, the trays aren't equipped with locks, which are usually a must-have in business environments.