Thecus N4800 4-Bay Battery Backup NAS Review

Final Thoughts

TweakTown recommended both the Thecus N4200 and N4200 Pro when they hit the market. The mix of advanced software features with innovative hardware design and layout made them the very best NAS products in their class. The battery backup unit is so advanced other manufactures haven't even tried to copy it yet and the dual front displays give you a deep insight into the systems operation and status.

The Thecus N4800 takes those existing advanced features and doubles down with new exciting features that make this product even more consumer-friendly. The new HDMI display function, although not ready for use just yet, will add an extra dimension to the N4800, one that wasn't available on previous models. The dual USB 3.0 ports also allow for increased productivity when used to quickly copy data from a portable HDD, another feature not found on the previous two award winners. Thecus did a very good job in the features and function category.

Also new with the N4800 is a much lower initial price. The N4800 is already selling for the same amount the remaining stock of N4200 products are list selling for. This is without a doubt my favorite new part of the review because it means more people have the opportunity to afford a very robust NAS that delivers exceptional performance and quality. With products like the Pioneer Music Tap and other uPnP media receivers selling for considerably less this year, the need for quality NAS products is increasing. Many of these media players even have the ability to stream Blu-ray ISO files across the network for playback on a large screen TV. The bandwidth needed is much higher than what nearly all low cost single and dual disk NAS appliances can provide. With many homes now displaying content one more than one display at the same time, the bandwidth needs are quickly outpacing what the budget NAS market can provide.

Even with the new features, the Thecus N4800 still provides the same basic NAS features that built the foundation for this market. The cornerstone is still data redundancy, protection from data loss. These features, although the most commonly used on a NAS, have become so commonplace that we barely skim over them. With single disk span, RAID 0, RAID 10, RAID 5 and RAID 6 available you can choose the level of protection (or all out performance with RAID 0) that you need. We still suggest RAID 5 for home and office use with a four drive array, though. If you want to double your redundant level RAID 6 is available, but your available storage capacity is much lower than when using RAID 5.

With performance, value, data redundancy and even power loss protection to add it your redundancy, the Thecus N4800 is the new leader in the SMB and SOHO NAS market. This title was taken away from the Thecus N4200 Pro and Thecus gets to wear the crown once again. Hopefully the new price allows you to experience this class leading product that's filled with unique features.

Let's hope that Thecus is able to hit a home run with the new HDMI interface, but even without it, the N4800 is the best on the market right now.