Page 7 - Final Thoughts and Conclusion
As this final thoughts page for my QNAP NAS reviews gets longer and longer (Admittedly, I do borrow a few paragraphs from my past articles, and it kind of accumulates), it is nice to approach the conclusion with a different mindset than before. In the past, I have always covered the business line from the company; leaving out the home section out of the equation. Not anymore.
Like other products from the company, the QNAP TS-419P II is a fully featured file server that occupies a small footprint for its ability to accommodate up to four hard disks with hot swap trays -- yet retaining great power efficiency as demonstrated on the previous page. It is also very easy to setup and use out of the box, as well as maintaining it after deployment, by QNAP's excellent web configuration interface loaded with a serious amount of features. However, just because it is loaded with features, does not mean it is hard to use -- in fact, everything is so well organized, and works so well out of the box, its potential is simply limitless. These are the attributes that make a network attached storage system so desirable to consumers and SOHO users alike.
Seeing the TS-419P II, it is a true encouragement to see a company so committed to their products -- not just across market segments, but also over time. Unlike other network attached storage systems I have used in the past, the home oriented QNAP TS-419P II has every software feature its bigger brothers have. QNAP's firmware is not artificially crippled or lazily coded for ARM to leave those who pay less money in the cold. Whether you pay $250 for a base model to a few thousand dollars for advanced business systems, it still runs the exact same software. And the best part? The company still continues to provide updates to models that are beyond three or four generations old -- our QNAP TS-439 Pro can actually be updated to the latest firmware.
Really, you are buying this NAS because of the software. If you are in a home environment, the huge abundance of impressive multimedia and cloud features that takes your NAS online is something that differentiates a QNAP from, well, not a QNAP. Its supremely simple configuration and easy management is definitely something your generic system cannot do. If you are in a business environment and you don't need extremely powerful hardware, the QNAP TS-419P II has you covered as well. Software licensing issues and easy deployment with excellent compatibility easily justifies the cost of owning a QNAP NAS for file storage; especially considering its particularly loaded set of features in interfacing with your existing home, SOHO, or enterprise network. The TS-419P II can be utilized as the network shared storage of VMware and Citrix virtualization environments, as well as certified Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and failover cluster compatibility. And the list goes on and on. If I were to list them all, I am going to need a few more pages, and you are not even going to bother reading it, haha.
As far as hardware goes, its solid construction and attention to detail is very commendable. The internal 92mm fan is also very quiet during normal operation; even with its default Smart Fan setting, I can barely hear the fan running, even with an SSD installed in the system. Its low noise emission is definitely appreciated, as we've came to expect from the every QNAP NAS I have used in the past. While I personally don't recommend running the server in your bedroom or similar, most people shouldn't have any problems -- it all boils down to how loud your hard drives are!
Performance is also strong across the board in our tests -- with a pants peeing speed across the board in our benchmarks over Gigabit LAN, for most of us the problem is probably not going to be the NAS being slow -- it is most likely going to be either a slower hard drive or a low performing network adapter on the client computer. My QNAP TS-419P II with a Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD is really fast (I highly doubt you will get anything better over RAID 5, compared to what I have seen in the past), but I feel that the write speed can probably be improved a bit in this setup -- it is nowhere near the capabilities of the network or the SSD. As far as read is concerned, I can practically say that the QNAP TS-419P II pushes the limit of what Gigabit Ethernet can realistically carry; just slap some fast enough drives in there and you are good to go. Generally speaking, the performance is very consistent as far as sustained data rate goes. There are no sudden data rate spikes, whether up or down. Consistent data delivery is always important, and the QNAP TS-419P II will strive to impress in performance and consistency, every single time.
You might think the QNAP TS-419P II having 512MB of RAM is a measly amount by today's standards -- but during our tests, it is definitely adequate according to the data provided by the system even under full speed simultaneous connections. QNAP's embedded operating system is relatively lightweight; our TS-419P II uses about 150-200MB on average. Even if you enable a few more services, 300MB is still well within limits. The single core Marvell CPU won't keep up if you are going super hardcore on the load, but in a home environment, you are very likely going to saturate the network adapter's bandwidth before maxing out the CPU. It is definitely more than powerful enough for what it is intended for.
QNAP continues to use their excellent V3 firmware with an excellent frontend user interface. The brilliant AJAX powered web configuration interface is not only pretty, but it's also very functional. Its clean and smooth design is visually very appealing and modern. Additionally, it is fast and intuitive. It makes the abundance of built in features and encompasses them in a very easy to use fashion. That's not to mention it's not resource intensive at all. I am a big fan of this brilliant web configuration system, and I think I gave it a lot of praise already haha. With more and more features added in every update, QNAP has gone above and beyond what an average user expects from a network attached storage device as aforementioned -- the amount of features available on the QNAP TS-419P II is simply impeccable.
As expected from excellent QNAP hardware in conjunction with its embedded Linux based operating system, we expect no problems with regards to its stability in the long run. Our projected score, based on QNAP's excellent track record, is also very high for these listed reasons. With our previous QNAP TS-409 test unit exceeding 221 days in continuous, uninterrupted service, and our TS-439 Pro, TS-559 Pro+, and TS-559 Pro II haven't even crashed once in a full year of usage (It was only taken out by power failures in the house), QNAP has managed to make products that are an absolute breeze to use in everyday life -- literally trouble-free service throughout my one year of usage -- our expectations are no less with the new TS-419P II. My experience with every QNAP NAS I have used in the past is very positive. We will update this article, and any associated uptime information, when sufficient data on the performance and reliability of the TS-419P II can be obtained down the road.
What does all this mean to you? If QNAP makes some of the best business systems around, the latest firmware just sealed the deal -- it makes some of the best home systems around as well. Carrying a retail price of around $520 at press time, my advice to you is don't look at QNAP's network attached storage systems just by the hardware specifications on paper -- in application, as I have said in the past, the value offered in the combination of performance, quality, and the huge abundance of features -- for home users, enthusiasts, and small businesses alike -- certainly cannot be overlooked. There are a few minor quirks I would like to see addressed on the TS-419P II, however, Rather than placing all the USB 3.0 ports at the back, have one of them in the front. Secondly, I am not sure why they used an external power supply. There is clearly enough room in the chassis to accommodate an internal unit, and it is probably cheaper, too. Thirdly, drive locks would be nice, but not a necessity, since this is a home system. Other than that? If you are a home or SOHO user looking for something that is powerful and does not break the bank, the QNAP TS-419P II is one awesome NAS to behold.
QNAP provided this product to APH Networks for the purpose of evaluation.
APH equal.balance Award | APH Review Focus Summary:
7/10 means Great product with many advantages and certain insignificant drawbacks; but should be considered before purchasing.
8/10 means Definitely a very good product with drawbacks that aren't likely going to matter to the end user.
-- Final APH Numeric Rating is 7.5/10
Please note that the APH Numeric Rating system is based off our proprietary guidelines in the Review Focus, and should not be compared to other sites.
Everyone else in the room can see the QNAP TS-419P II is one of the best 4-bay NAS boxes around. But can you?
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Page Index
1. Introduction and Specifications
2. A Closer Look - Hardware
3. Configuration and User Interface, Part I
4. Configuration and User Interface, Part II
5. Configuration and User Interface, Part III
6. Performance and Power Consumption
7. Final Thoughts and Conclusion
