Qnap TS-231P

Review: Qnap TS-231P

by Parm Mann on 14 February 2017, 16:30

Tags: Qnap

Conclusion

...with the popular QTS operating system the TS-231P is able to offer a rich and versatile feature set that covers many of the NAS essentials.

The Qnap TS-231P is a competent mid-range NAS well suited to a home or small office environment. Priced at just under £180 and armed with a dual-core 1.7GHz processor and 1GB of DDR3 memory, it delivers capable performance for a small number of users in a tidy-looking and energy efficient package.

Qnap's NAS expertise ensure that setup is a doddle, and with the popular QTS operating system the TS-231P is able to offer a rich and versatile feature set that covers many of the NAS essentials.

Multimedia power users seeking advanced features such as HDMI output or hardware video transcoding with third-party apps may need to look elsewhere, but for NAS newcomers seeking a central data store in a multi-device home, the TS-231P doesn't break the bank and has plenty of offer.

The Good		The Bad
Straightforward setup Powerful QTS operating system Energy efficient hardware Front-facing USB 3.0 Competitive price tag		Limited hardware transcoding potential Lacks HDMI output

Qnap TS-231P

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The Qnap TS-231P NAS is available to purchase from Amazon UK.

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Can u install ftp, torrents and various other network apps?

Yes, QNAP units (I have vanilla x31 unit, not newer x31P) allow for many apps. FTP handling is built-in, just tick the appropriate box. The pre-loaded “download station” will handle torrents, although I've never tried myself. There's also stuff like iTunes server, DLNA server, and things like Plex (best downloaded from the Plex site, though). There aren't quite as many apps for the ARM-based QNAPs as for the (more expensive) Intel ones, but it's not far off, and frankly all the core bases are covered.

Unless you have a need for the higher end features like virtualisation, or perhaps hardware transcoding (but be careful with this, Plex doesn't use hardware, and the default codec pack has “lost” Dolby/DTS abilities, so this was a bit underwhelming) the x31/x31P series make for excellent NAS units.

£180 for a box that can barely transcode and doesn't have HDMI? No.

I like QNAP boxes, but the prices are out of whack.

Irien
Yes, QNAP units (I have vanilla x31 unit, not newer x31P) allow for many apps. FTP handling is built-in, just tick the appropriate box. The pre-loaded “download station” will handle torrents, although I've never tried myself. There's also stuff like iTunes server, DLNA server, and things like Plex (best downloaded from the Plex site, though). There aren't quite as many apps for the ARM-based QNAPs as for the (more expensive) Intel ones, but it's not far off, and frankly all the core bases are covered.

Unless you have a need for the higher end features like virtualisation, or perhaps hardware transcoding (but be careful with this, Plex doesn't use hardware, and the default codec pack has “lost” Dolby/DTS abilities, so this was a bit underwhelming) the x31/x31P series make for excellent NAS units.

Can second this, my TS-431 has been doing me proud for just under 2 years now and I'm still yet to use 2 of the bays.

I just wish ISPs wouldn't be so stingy with upload speeds…

You can get an old server off eBay like a Dell T310 for this price and that has a Xeon, 4 disk bays, and WAAY more functionality than a QNAP device.

I stopped using QNAP this year. Junk.

Review: Qnap TS-231P

Conclusion

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