14 DAY TRIAL // NAS devices usually look like large boxes, or bricks on steroids, maybe clad in smooth plastic or metal, but there are exceptions, like the one that QNAP just launched.
Called Turbo NAS HS-210, it looks more like a set-top box than a NAS, and is made for a similar purpose too.
It's a sort of substitute HTPC. Instead of buying a mini PC, you get a NAS that can stream movies and everything.
Inside you'll find two hot-swappable drive bays driven by a 1.6 GHz CPU and 512 MB DDR3 RAM. Not that it's advised to open it up and look.
Two USB 3.0 ports and a single Gigabit LAN port are built into it too, and a bunch of media-oriented apps are installed as well, like Qfile, Qmusic, Qphoto, Qmanager and VMobile.
DLNA and AirPlay are supported too. Basically, the QNAP Turbo NAS HS-210 is an STB look-alike without the TV broadcast connection, and with more storage.