Affordable NAS: QNAP launches budget-oriented QuNAS lineup with 8-core Intel "Twin Lake" CPU

QNAP is a well-known player in the realm of NAS hardware, and the company has now introduced its latest QuNAS lineup of network-attached storage devices. Powered by an octa-core Intel Twin Lake processor, these new products, which have been launched in China, should allow for decent performance.

To be more specific, the new QuNAS range from QNAP will pack the Intel Core 3 N355 CPU. Although far from a powerhouse, the 8-core chip, which features Gracemont efficiency cores exclusively, is a pretty decent fit for a home NAS. QNAP also offers cheaper "Lite" variants, powered by the quad-core Intel N150 CPU. Unsurprisingly, the Core 3 N355 is almost twice as powerful as the N150, at least in synthetic benchmarks.

The QuNAS lineup will feature the Qu405, Qu605, and Qu805 systems packing four, six, and eight drive bays respectively. Moreover, the systems will be equipped with up to 16 GB of DDR5 memory. Flash storage enthusiasts will be pleased to note that the QuNAS lineup will also feature dual M.2 2280 (PCIe 3.0 x1) slots for housing super-fast NVMe storage. The port selection is as follows:

• Dual 2.5G Ethernet
• Dual HDMI 2.1 (N355)
• Dual USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A
• Single USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C

As of this writing, a global launch for the QNAP QuNAS series is not in sight. The highest-end Qu805 8-bay NAS with 16 GB of memory and the N355 CPU is priced at 3,799 Yuan in China, which is roughly equal to $534 right now. Customers will obviously have to supply their own storage, whether it be hard drives (Seagate IronWolf 4 TB drive curr. $85 on Amazon) or pricier and faster solid-state drives.