09-26-2025, 12:53 PM
The DS1821+ with the V1500B is already very capable for your listed use case. For file serving, media streaming, and a handful of Docker containers, you won’t come close to saturating what that CPU can do. It’s stable, power-efficient, and has plenty of headroom for backups, Plex (direct play), and small apps.
The DS1823xs+ with the V1780B does give you more horsepower — roughly double in synthetic benchmarks, as you’ve seen — but the real-world difference only shows if you plan on running heavier VM workloads, multiple simultaneous Docker stacks, or if you want long-term 10GbE throughput with heavy IOPS and multiple users. It also ships with more base memory and enterprise-level support, which might matter if this was a business-critical environment.
On the support side, you’re right: the DS1821+ is older and has about 6 years of updates left, while the DS1823xs+ should see closer to 9 or 10. That’s probably the bigger long-term differentiator than the raw CPU power.
For a home setup focused on storage, streaming, and light containers, the DS1821+ is the more cost-effective choice. You save the $561, and you’re still covered for years of updates. If you expect your workload to stay within those bounds, I’d keep the DS1821+. If, however, you think you’ll be running heavier Docker/VM environments or need guaranteed longer support, then the DS1823xs+ becomes worth the extra.
The DS1823xs+ with the V1780B does give you more horsepower — roughly double in synthetic benchmarks, as you’ve seen — but the real-world difference only shows if you plan on running heavier VM workloads, multiple simultaneous Docker stacks, or if you want long-term 10GbE throughput with heavy IOPS and multiple users. It also ships with more base memory and enterprise-level support, which might matter if this was a business-critical environment.
On the support side, you’re right: the DS1821+ is older and has about 6 years of updates left, while the DS1823xs+ should see closer to 9 or 10. That’s probably the bigger long-term differentiator than the raw CPU power.
For a home setup focused on storage, streaming, and light containers, the DS1821+ is the more cost-effective choice. You save the $561, and you’re still covered for years of updates. If you expect your workload to stay within those bounds, I’d keep the DS1821+. If, however, you think you’ll be running heavier Docker/VM environments or need guaranteed longer support, then the DS1823xs+ becomes worth the extra.