Introduction

Just before Computex earlier this year Thecus announced their new N8800 Pro, an updated 8-Drive NAS server that was based on the N8800 and N8800+, but with even higher specifications and a stronger feature list. The Pro version turns the 8800 Series up to eleven with 4GB DDRII and a higher clocked Core 2 Duo Processor.

Aside from the upgrades, all of the standard 8800 Series goodies are retained. The Thecus N8800 Pro has one of the best cases we have seen in a NAS and the 10GbE option is unrivaled at this price point. Thecus' award winning software is easy to configure just like the consumer class products, but has the capability of NAS systems built for government and large business use.

Speaking of large business, the N8800 Pro is designed for serious use with several users reading and writing to the NAS at the same time. The price reflects this fact, but not to the degree that most large businesses are used to seeing. With a less than 2,000 USD price tag, the N8800 Pro is in the budget for most medium sized businesses, but it would easily be considered overkill. If your business has the potential to grow, then it might be a good idea to start out big and grow into a NAS rather than upgrade every five years like many companies are considering.

Today we are looking at the Thecus N8800 Pro, one of the most powerful NAS servers available for less than 2,000 Dollars. Let's take a look at the specifications.

Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The hardware specification list is very impressive and has everything you would expect to see in a flagship NAS from one of the world's leading NAS builders. The heart of the system is an Intel Core2Duo processor that is fed data from 4GB of DDR2 memory. The N8800 Pro is an eight drive bay NAS, but you can add a ninth drive by connecting it to an eSATA port located on the back of the N8800 Pro.

The Thecus N8800 Pro is a true enterprise class NAS server. One of the features that helps define this class is redundant power supplies and the Pro has a dual 350 watt PSU system that will keep your NAS going even if one of the power supplies fails.

The network configuration is the same as what we have seen in many high end NAS servers; dual 10/100/1000 BASE-TX ports that can be used independently or together in a failover mode. Thecus has a fairly unique feature that we are not seeing on other NAS products from competitors at this price and that is a 10GbE option. The N8800 Pro has a PCIe port available on the back that can be populated with an Intel 10GbE network card to give users additional bandwidth to the NAS.

The Thecus N8800 Pro has been on the market for a few months now and Thecus has been able to get these out to etailers all over the globe. Newegg currently lists the N8800 Pro as in stock for 1,899.99. If that price is higher than your budget, you may want to look at the N8800 (Newegg Price 1424.99) or the N8800+ (1799.99); both offer many of the same great features, but use slower processors and smaller memory configurations.