Asustor AS6404T NAS Review - Asustor Introduction

ASUSTOR AS6404T - NAS Server
More Performance With A New Apollo Lake Quad-Core Based NAS Unit

We test the all new Asustor AS6404T NAS, a powerful flagship NAS armed with some very spicy hardware. It is based on a new generation quad-core Apollo Lake Celeron processor. Next to that it has been paired with 8GB dual-channel memory and sure, it has a nearly obnoxious plethora of ASUSTOR features and APPs making this a small server really. The four in that product name means we'll be testing the 4-bay version of this quad-core processor based NAS.

Over the years we have been testing quite a number of Asustor NAS units, and admittedly every single one of them has been exemplary within its product position in the market. A quality build in terms of hardware combined with a very strong and efficient software suite are the two key factors here. The AS6404T as tested today is intended for those who need that flexibility and power in their NAS, a bit more performance and a large RAM buffer on their NAS perhaps for their WEB related hosting which you can manage on this product or sufficiently run a database. As such, we'll call the AS6404T a pro-sumer and SOHO targeted product. But make no mistake, at home it could function as the perfect low power home server for all your streaming needs as well as media-center functionality. The AS6404T certainly offers it all, making this NAS series flexible on many application levels.

The AS6 range can in this respect be compared a little to what Intel is doing with the Core i3, i5 and i7 naming schema. The Asustor NAS product line offers AS1, AS2, AS3, AS5 and this AS6 series of NAS server, and yes, that means the AS6 or the AS6404T falls within their premium line of products with a combination of the best hardware and additional software.

The product is competitive alright, especially for the small business owner and heavy (pro)consumer. With the new Apollo Lake generation processors the AS6404T is an energy friendly unit as well, offering a wide range of features including file-sharing, usenet download, web applications, download systems, security center and so on. Yes, years ago a NAS unit had the sole function to serve files. These days however they have become easy to manage servers with selectable applications you can install. Combined with the right amount of security and options a NAS can be a very powerful solution for your LAN or SOHO environment.

Being seated in the flagship range, the AS6404T also can be used as a media center, Kodi can be installed and it can even manage playback of Ultra HD movies over a HDMI 1.4b connection and, if you'd prefer it, audio over an Optical SPDIF output. Your LAN needs are well served also, you can output to LAN Link Aggregation with the two gigabit Ethernet jacks (albeit that is a hard thing to achieve Windows software wise). As stated, the AS6404T will come with a proper 8 GB of DDR3L memory configured in dual-channel mode. And then the processor, this Asustor is housing a proper Intel Celeron 1.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (boosting to 2.3GHz). This is from the new Apollo Lake series. Today's tested model NAS unit has four HDD bays (hot-swappable) that are RAID 0/1/5 compatible. It offers 2x full duplex Gigabit Ethernet jacks, multiple USB 2.0/3.0 connectors and then a heap of software functionality that remains to be really impressive. Power consumption with one storage unit like an HDD or SSD sits at roughly 10 Watts. So this NAS might be a terrific low power option while providing a small server in features. 

Have a peek at the product and then we'll dive a little deeper into the review. We'll be testing with new ADM software today, ADM (the NAS operating system software) is in a new beta phase at the moment, and will be upgraded to version 3.0 which offers fresh new looks with a new UI that is more intuitive.