Review: Synology DS920+

by Parm Mann on 13 July 2020, 14:01

Tags: Synology

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Conclusion

...the award-winning DiskStation Manager operating system elevates the experience to a level above most competitors.

The Synology DS920+ ought to be one of the most compelling high-performance turnkey NAS solutions on the market today.

Priced at £520 and taking up the mantle of the hugely popular DS918+, the refreshed four-bay unit comes equipped with a capable Intel Celeron J4125 processor, 4GB of DDR4 memory, and the award-winning DiskStation Manager operating system that elevates the experience to a level above most competitors.

Given these sound foundations, it is all the more frustrating to find that Synology has dragged its heels in other areas. As capable as the software is, 2.5GbE hardware is needed to offer the level of future proofing expected at this price point, and being restricted to 1GbE speeds limits the DS920+'s appeal as either a high-performance starting point or as an upgrade from an older model.

Bottom line: Synology's DS920+ is a minor refresh of a tried-and-trusted product and lacks the high-speed connectivity needed to make it a compelling upgrade.

The Good
  
The Bad
Best-in-class operating system
Upgraded Intel CPU and DDR4 memory
Dual M.2 slots for easy SSD caching
Synology Hybrid RAID
Transcoding with third-party apps (Plex)
  
Misses out on native 2.5GbE
Only one accessible memory slot
M.2 can't be used to add storage
Minor upgrade over DS918+



Synology DS920+

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TBC.

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At HEXUS, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any company representatives for the products reviewed choose to respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.


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HEXUS Forums :: 16 Comments

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Posted by Spreadie - Mon 13 Jul 2020 17:38
£500 and still on GbE LAN?!

You could maybe understand it if there was a PCIE expansion slot.
Posted by Saracen999 - Mon 13 Jul 2020 18:16
Does it tick the boxes?

I have to say, not for me. In many ways, it's overkill for my needs and so too expensive. But if !I need have the need, then the limitations would leave me looking for something that did address the shortcomings the article mentions.

It falls between the two, IMHO.
Posted by LSG501 - Mon 13 Jul 2020 20:38
Got to agree about the lack of 2.5GBe, while I don't currently use anything above 1GBe, 2.5GBe or even 5GBe should be ‘standard’ on things by now, even if it's just to saturate wifi connections.
Posted by Saracen999 - Mon 13 Jul 2020 21:28
LSG501
Got to agree about the lack of 2.5GBe, while I don't currently use anything above 1GBe, 2.5GBe or even 5GBe should be ‘standard’ on things by now, even if it's just to saturate wifi connections.
Me too, but because this isn't the kind of device I'd plan on upgrading every year or two. It's the kind of irregular device I'd purchase for long-term use and would want as future-proofed as I could reasonably get. Then again, even if for no better reason that market segmentation, that would probably drive the price up even further.
Posted by edmundhonda - Mon 13 Jul 2020 22:52
HEXUS
Synology's official specification lists a maximum memory capacity of 8GB (4GB + 4GB), presumably to prevent cannibalising sales of higher-end units, but owners have already demonstrated that higher-capacity sticks appear to function just fine.

The Intel ark spec for the processor says it only supports 8GB total, so it might refuse to address anything above that in use.

edit: QNAP TS-453D is the same processor, dual 2.5GbE and a pci-e slot instead of the m.2 cache slots. ~£600 on amazon, has been available near £500 though.

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