Asustor AS3102T
AFFORDABLE AND POWERFUL — A PERFECT BALANCE OF CAPABILITIES.
THE AS6202T REVIEWED over the page may be Asustor’s flagship performance product, but if you want value, then the much cheaper AS3102T is where it’s at. It has a lot of the same features and capabilities as the more expensive model, but shaves nearly $300 off the price.
What’s more, for a ‘lower-end’ NAS model, it still has very impressive specs. Yes, there’s only a single Ethernet port, but it still has a Celeron processor inside — which gives it quite a bit more oomph and substantially greater application compatibility than an ARM-based solution. It also has local HDMI output, making is usable as a Kodi media player as well as NAS. Although it has no remote or IR receiver supplied, you can purchase an official remote separately or use the Asustor Kodi remote on your phone to control it.
Here we also have Asustor’s excellent ADM operating system working at its full capability, with nearly all features unlocked. Like Synology and QNAP, Asustor provides a huge suite of optional first- and third-party apps. There are too many to list here, but pretty much any service you can think of (and many you can’t) is likely to be supported through Asustor’s App Central. Asustor’s first-party apps aren’t quite as good as those of Synology or QNAP, but they’re well made, and the (many) mobile apps are smooth and capable, easy to use for NAS setup, media playback and remote access.
We’re not huge fans of the aesthetic (it has a similar look to ASUS’s routers), but the tool-free installation, smooth setup, great mobile apps and comprehensive app suite have absolutely sold us on the Asustor. A near-perfect home media server and player.