QNAP has been recently making waves in the NAS scene with its latest innovative offering: the TBS-453A NASbook. The NASbook offers just about every feature you would expect in a typical NAS product, but the unexpected features are what make it truly stand-out among its competitors. Firstly, the TBS-453A’s slim and low-profile design allows it seamlessly blend into work environments, allowing it to remain unobtrusive until needed. This is primarily accomplished by its use of M.2 SSDs for storage, a world-first in Network Attached Storage’s. Additionally, M.2 SSDs perform significantly quieter and cooler than typical HDDs found in NAS’s today. Developing the world’s first M.2-based NAS is quite the accomplishment, but why stop there? The NASBook contains a 4 port LAN switch, dual HDMI outputs, full Linux OS support and a myriad of utilities within the QTS App Center. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the seemingly endless and downright unusual functionalities offered by the NASbook. After all, who needs a built-in karaoke system in their NAS? Is this an entertainment center or a storage appliance? On the enterprise side, the NASbook is also capable of hosting Virtual Machines using Virtualization Station, which supports VM backup, snapshot and more. Meanwhile on the home entertainment side, the NASBook is capable of transcoding 4K video, while HD Station allows apps such as Kodi and YouTube to transform the NASbook into a capable replacement for your home theater system. QNAP took the “all” in “all-in-one” to a whole new level, leaving no device or application software overlooked. Surveillance Station even turns this NAS into a full-fledged NVR system, capable of recording and monitoring IP cameras. Ultimately, the TBS-453A NASbook is a great idea, and there’s no denying that the product innovates the NAS series of products. But I’m not convinced a targeted market exists for this product, and if it does, it is lost somewhere beneath a locust swarm of random, unrelated features crammed inside a quiet, compact NAS.
