Form Factor / Drive Height
177x180x235mm
177x180x235mm
Platter (alternate)
2.5"
2.5"
Processor
Annapurna Labs AL-212 1.7GHz
Annapurna Labs AL-314, 4-core,1.7GHz
CPU Mark (cpubenchmark.net)
low
low
Total Drives (alternate)
4
4
RAID
0:1:5:6:JBOD:
0:1:5:6:JBOD:
RAID Levels
Single Disk, JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
Single Disk, JBOD, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10





Price ex.VAT:£205.00
Price inc.VAT:£246.00

designIt's a budget/Cost Effective NAS and therefore you cannot expect a superior build quality as you see in the QNAP TVS-1282T or the Synology DS3617xs. But even though it is a bit plastic-y, it is still functional and keeps the noise lower than you would expect. featuresThe Annapurna CPU, though not breathtakingly powerful is still more than able to perform many, many tasks and is actually alot better than the CPU in most Budget or Cheap NAS servers performanceIf you need a small to medium task level NAS for your file server needs and light to Medium Media Access via DLNA or the Native QNAP Apps, then this NAS will perform very well for you indeed valueExcellent Value and if you need a RAID enabled NAS server for Windows or Mac - The TS-431p is the NAS device for you. |

designThe Plastoc trays and horrible lockless design make you feel like you are breaking the trays each time you use them. I would recommend replacing the trays with Metal Trays from QNAP featuresNevertheless, it is still an ARM CPU and therefore functions and applications like PLEX Transcoding and Virtual Machines are not available to you with a NAS like this one. performanceHowever if you need slightly more intensive, larger file operations or who to move towards that in the next year or two, then you are better off spending a little more on the QNAP TS-453A here - https://www.span.com/product/Qnap-Desktop-NAS-TS-453A-4G-4-Bay-RAID-0-1-5-6-4GB-RAM-~52841 valueIf you want a NAS that can do more intensive operations then what you save in the low price, you also lose in it's ability - this NAS is excellent for the price if you need smaller file access/volumne - Not if you want RAW power. |
General Performance
The TS-431P same as the TS-431X2-2G is made by Qnap. By choosing Qnap people expect to see advanced configurations opportunities as well as innovative and more diverse business applications. You are able to customize the TS-431P to your needs. Unlike the TS-431X2-2G this box has the Annapurna Labs AL-212 1.7GHz processor. Another key difference between the TS-431X2-2G is RAM. TS-431P arrives with 1GB RAM. The TS-431P 1GB RAM compared with TS-431X2-2G 2GB is clearly weaker.
About Connections
There are two LAN ports on this box, making it a good home or small business NAS as you can utilise Link Aggregation and Failover support. Three USB3 ports on this Qnap is offering you up to 5Gb/s transfer speeds of external devices. It is fast enough to get your files through fairly quickly with this speed and make backing up with an external drive or Apple Time Machine a quick and easy process.
About Usage
With 4 bay unit you are having additional advantages. You can choose from number of RAID solutions to set up. There could be RAID that saves your data even if one of the drives fail so you can still recover your data. This would be slightly more safe option to keep your data. Besides you can still access your documents or media files over your private network or even internet.
Price And Warranty
This box comes with 2 year warranty for your peace of mind and long term hardware security. This Qnap is £129.00 cheaper than the most expensive unit TS-431X2-2G.




Price ex.VAT:£334.00
Price inc.VAT:£400.80
General Performance
The TS-431X2-2G same as the TS-431P is made by Qnap. By choosing Qnap people expect to see advanced configurations opportunities as well as innovative and more diverse business applications. You are able to customize the TS-431X2-2G to your needs. Unlike the TS-431P this box has the Annapurna Labs AL-314, 4-core,1.7GHz processor. Another key difference between the TS-431P is RAM. TS-431X2-2G arrives with 2GB RAM. Size of 2GB makes TS-431X2-2G the best regards to RAM capacity.
About Connections
With three LAN ports this box is making good enterprise level NAS. Three USB3 ports on this Qnap is offering you up to 5Gb/s transfer speeds of external devices. It is fast enough to get your files through fairly quickly with this speed and make backing up with an external drive or Apple Time Machine a quick and easy process.
About Usage
With 4 bay unit you are having additional advantages. You can choose from number of RAID solutions to set up. There could be RAID that saves your data even if one of the drives fail so you can still recover your data. This would be slightly more safe option to keep your data. Besides you can still access your documents or media files over your private network or even internet.
Price And Warranty
This box comes with 2 year warranty for your peace of mind and long term hardware security. This is the most expensive box with the price tag £334.00.