ASK NC

1. presently sharing my media with 5 family members. Very challenging of me to adjust my router to make Plex visible online, but I eventually managed. (not a networking maven)
2. have never had 4K media. Happy with 1080. Wouldn't mind 4K and transcoding capability, but not important.
3. the server will be in an adjoining office with a door to help control noise.
4. user friendliness is very important to me.

i'm a big fan. Thank you so much for this.

Based on your requirements and preferences, the Synology DS423+ seems like a good fit for your needs. It has the same specs as the DS920+, including a Celeron J4125 quad-core 2.0 GHz processor and 4GB of RAM, but is more affordable. It also has a user-friendly interface and is designed to be quiet, which should work well since the server will be in an adjoining office with a door. Additionally, it has transcoding capabilities for media streaming, although it's not as important for you since you mainly use 1080p media.