14 DAY TRIAL // Network-attached storage devices don't really need that big a processing capability, even though they are, technically, just a really specialized type of personal computer.
QNAP still thought that the performance standard could do with an upgrade though, so it went beyond the limits of Intel Atom CPUs for once. It didn't change CPU suppliers (AMD doesn't exactly have the kind of CPUs most ideal for these things, and the graphics in APUs would just be wasted), but it did choose a better chip from the collection available.
So here they are, the HS-251 and TS-x51 series NAS devices powered by the Intel Celeron dual-core central processing unit.
The chip has a clock of 2.41 GHz and is backed by 1-8 GB of DDR3L memory. The transfer speed can go all the way up to 220 MB/s.
Other than new CPUs, the new NAS units benefit from on-the-fly and offline Full HD video transcoding, 7.1 channel audio pass-through (via HDMI) thanks to the integrated XBMC v12 media player, and support for personal cloud creation (network users can have their own AirPlay, Plex and DLNA video-filled libraries).
Furthermore, the TS-X51 is the first NAS with FIRST virtualization support, allowing users to create and manage virtual machines from the NAS (basically, you make the network think there are more PCs connected than there really are).
The HS-251 2-bay Silent NAS and TS-x51 series will cost based on how much memory you put in, and whether or not you want them empty or (partially) equipped with HDDs.