NAS selection

[Enquiries]

Hi, I love your channel, I have been looking at buying a NAS for a long time and I really cannot seem to select a single unit as there is so many considerations.

My main uses are to setup a plex server, and store all of my holiday photos and videos which are currently stored in the cloud.

I have been looking at Synology DS1621+, but I am concerned of the hardware limits.

I would prefer a Synology unit, but I am open to

[ed]

You're correct that the Synology DS1621+ doesn't come with a dedicated media chip, but for local use, this shouldn't be an issue. The AMD Ryzen CPU in the DS1621+ is capable of handling Plex streaming and other tasks without the need for a media-specific chip, as long as you're not doing heavy transcoding or streaming to multiple devices at once. For local streaming, this model should perform well, especially for movies and shows stored on your NAS.

If you're planning on accessing your media remotely, you might want to consider Synology DS423+. It's a great alternative with the Intel CPU, which supports more efficient Plex transcoding for remote access and streaming.

Alternatively, if you're considering a QNAP option, the TS-664 with a Celeron CPU could be a solid choice as well. It’s more affordable, still provides good Plex support, and also has more flexibility with SSD caching and expansions, which could be useful as you scale your storage.

Both of these alternatives would give you better performance for remote access, while still being user-friendly for local streaming and file sharing.

Hope that helps with your decision!