The Bottom Line
Introduction

Over the last few years, we have seen quite a few new and innovative NAS solutions from QNAP. Just a few months back, we were able to get our hands-on the TS-451, and had our first look at QVM. Today we are looking at QNAP's latest platform, the TS-253 Pro.
The TS-x53 Pro lineup comes in two, four, six, and eight-bay models, which share internal hardware platforms. The unit we have in house, the two bay solution, uses a mainboard with dual gigabit Ethernet ports. The larger solutions (the four, six, and eight-bay models) feature four gigabit Ethernet ports.
The TS-253 Pro is planted in the Bay Trail D platform, as was the TS-451. This time around, we have a Quad Core Intel Celeron J1900 with 2MB L2 cache, and a clock speed of 2GHz with the boost to 2.41GHz.

The TS-253 Pro carries two versions. The first version is the standard Pro model with 2GB of RAM; the other is the 8GB version for those wanting to use features such as Q vPC. Flash memory for this unit is listed at 512MB for the NAS OS, and two hot-swappable trays allow you to install up to 6TB hard drives.
On the back of the unit we have dual gigabit LAN connections, along with dual USB 3.0 ports, and a single HDMI. The front of the unit carries another USB 3.0 next to the one touch backup button.
MSRP for the two-bay TS-253 Pro with 2GB of RAM is listed at $499.99, while the model with 8GB of RAM will cost $649.99.
PRICING: You can find the QNAP TS-253 Pro for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The QNAP TS-253 Pro with 2GB RAM retails for $499.00 at Amazon, and the QNAP TS-253 Pro with 8GB RAM retails for $647.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The QNAP TS-253 Pro with 2GB RAM retails for CDN$716.83 at Amazon Canada, and the QNAP TS-253 Pro with 8GB RAM retails for CDN$871.00 at Amazon Canada.
QNAP TS-253 Pro
Packaging and a Closer Look

Packaging for the TS-253 Pro carries an image of the NAS in the center, and to the top right, we have marketing information.

The scope of delivery includes two LAN cables, the power adapter, and all the screws and drive bay keys needed.

As far as design goes, the front of the TS-253 Pro is pretty standard for QNAP. Here we have locking drive bays, which are found on all Pro models. The one-touch copy button, and the power button accompany the USB 3.0 port to the left.

The back of the NAS houses the HDMI port at the top, and dual gigabit LAN ports below. At the very bottom, we have two more USB 3.0 ports, and the power input.

The drive trays are made of steel, and provide options for mounting both 3.5" hard drives, and 2.5" SSDs.
Test System Setup and Management
Test System Setup

Our Consumer NAS test "system" is setup similar to what you have at home. Here we have the base of a GIGABYTE Z97X UD7 TH, housing an Intel Core i7 4770 with 16GB of supporting RAM. Our Operating System of choice is Windows 8 x64 Enterprise, with all available updates and patches, installed on a pair of Samsung 840 SSDs. On the networking side, we utilized the Intel PRO1000 PT Server Adapter with a direct connection to each NAS appliance. This eliminates the need for a switch, and any bottlenecks that may occur.

The QNAP finder allows you to begin setting up your NAS appliance. As you can see, after loading our unit with drives, it promptly showed up on our network.
Benchmarks - Single Client Throughput
Workload
HD Video Play - 720p HD stream from Windows Media Player; 256kB reads
2HD Video Play - 2x playback
4HD Video Play - 4x playback
HD Video Record - 720p HD stream; 256kB writes
File Copy From NAS - 4GB file copy; 64kB reads
File Copy To NAS - 64kB writes

Starting off with RAID 0 results, the TS 253 Pro did quite well with file copy operations; the NAS fell off quite a bit with playback and recording.

Moving over to RAID 1, we found similar results, with the 253 Pro doing quite well in file copy with 114 MB/s. However, we found all three-playback tests came in around 50 MB/s.
Benchmarks - Sequential and Mixed Workloads
Our Sequential read/write workload is centered on 128K transfer sizes with a Queue Depth of eight.

Sequential read results in RAID 0 came in at 52 MB/s, and moving over to write operations, we found the NAS to be much quicker at 112 MB/s.

RAID 1 result found the writes once again topping charts at 118 MB/s, while read results hovered around 54 MB/s.
Mixed Workloads

In our mixed workload testing, the TS 253 Pro did quite well, going from 189 IOPS in our workstation workload to 141 IOPS with the web server.

RAID 1 allowed the TS-253 Pro to reach 1104 IOPS in database, while the file server, web server, and workstation managed 746 IOPS, 485 IOPS, and 377 IOPS respectively.
Final Thoughts

The TS-253 Pro from QNAP is an excellent entry-level SMB solution for enthusiasts and business owners that want the greatest reliability in their storage.
Using the latest QTS NAS OS, the 253 Pro is a feature rich solution that includes support for the new QvPC technology, allowing users to double up their NAS as a PC. As with most units from QNAP, we have support for Citrix, VMware, and Hyper V, along with Real Time Replication support.
With this NAS, there are a few new features I have yet to get fully acquainted with, one being the AES 256Bit encryption, and the other, which I have used, is the on-the-fly hardware transcoding capability. Like most products from QNAP, the build quality of this NAS is quite good; the classic design we have seen used for the last four or five years still makes for a durable, reliable unit.
The performance of the NAS was two-sided. On one hand, we had top notch write results throughout all testing, but on the other hand, we had subpar read performance in our single client, and sequential testing.
Overall, the TS-253 Pro is a capable solution running on one of the best NAS platforms currently on the market. MSRP for the two-bay TS-253 Pro with 2GB of RAM is listed at $499.99, while the model with 8GB of RAM will cost $649.99. Each of these units carries a two-year warranty.
PRICING: You can find the QNAP TS-253 Pro for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing, but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.
United States: The QNAP TS-253 Pro with 2GB RAM retails for $499.00 at Amazon, and the QNAP TS-253 Pro with 8GB RAM retails for $647.99 at Amazon.
Canada: The QNAP TS-253 Pro with 2GB RAM retails for CDN$716.83 at Amazon Canada, and the QNAP TS-253 Pro with 8GB RAM retails for CDN$871.00 at Amazon Canada.