AOOSTAR R1: New mini-PC doubles as NAS with twin 3.5-inch bays

The AOOSTAR R1 is a new mini-PC that has the right ingredients for it to be put to use as a network-attached storage (NAS). As AOOSTAR's product images highlight, the R1 features a pair of 3.5-inch drive slots that can be removed without disassembling the whole unit. Instead, AOOSTAR has included a removable top cover and drive brackets like conventional NAS systems.

Additionally, AOOSTAR has equipped the R1 with twin 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports and four USB Type-A ports of varying standards. Also, the mini-PC has a MicroSD card reader and a USB Type-C port that supports DisplayPort Alt Mode, plus full-sized DisplayPort and HDMI connections. Meanwhile, single SO-DIMM and M.2 2280 slots sit next to one 3.5-inch drive bay for DDR4-3200 RAM and PCIe 3.0 SSDs, respectively.

AOOSTAR adds that the R1 supports up to Wi-Fi 6 connectivity too, seemingly courtesy of a soldered modem. Currently, the AOOSTAR R1 is only available with the Processor N100, a quad-core part from Intel's Alder Lake-N series that has a 6 W TDP and supports AV1 decoding. The AOOSTAR R1 is available directly as a barebones unit for US$259 or for US$319 with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. Alternatively, the company sells the latter for US$269 on Amazon after you apply a US$50 coupon. Orders from both platforms should start shipping around November 10.

Purchase the AOOSTAR R1 on Amazon