Conclusion

The Thecus N2560 is certainly a very capable and feature rich NAS box and it’s one that’s very affordable as it has an attractive price point.

The setup and installation is simple, just a few clicks and you should be up and running, really it is a rather painless experience.

The N2560 allows you to quickly and easily install and uninstall apps so you can pick and chose those apps that you need or want which will save on system resources. The Thecus app center has plenty of apps to choose from if you find you need something that wasn’t included already. The app center seems to be updated often with more apps being added al the time so if what you want isn’t there today it might be there tomorrow.

The N2560 shows decent performance in my testing, especially the write speeds, but it’s very fast overall and you should have no issues streaming HD media from it.

The N2560 is aesthetically pleasing, I’m not sure I like the white color personally, but overall it looks nice and it seems well made. The light up Thecus logo on the side is a nice touch and I think it looks great, but thankfully you can turn it off via the control panel if you disagree with me.

The N2560 is a very media centric box with numerous multimedia apps included and available to download for it. The N2560 could become your HTPC thanks to the addition of an HDMI port, just attach it to your HDTV and you’re ready to go.

Thecus includes a license for Twonky Media which normally you’d have to pay for, just push a button to install the app and you’re ready to go.

Thecus also includes a license for Acronis backup software which you can use in multiple ways to keep your files backed up and secure.

Besides multimedia and backup usage the N2560 can do everything else that you’ve come to expect from a NAS box like even running your very own website from it.

Thecus even provides free access to their DDNS service so you’ll be able to access your files and even stream media from virtually anywhere in the world. Not only can you access the N2560 from any computer but thanks to the mobile apps you can access it from your iOS or Android device, so the N2560 is a very versatile product.

The cooling fan in the N2560 is very quiet, I never heard it once under load and since it’s getting warmer now I expected to really. The N2560 also has the ability to turn off the hard drives while they’re not in use, this saves power and wear and tear on the drives but it also keeps it running quieter.

I’m not sure why Thecus decided to use rails for their hard drive installation when, as shown by other NAS boxes, there’s no need for them. The rails just add another step to the installation and if you lose one you can’t use the NAS. I don’t understand why Thecus chose to use a rail system with this NAS, or any NAS, at all.

The lack of 2.5” drive support is sad but it’s not a deal breaker at least for me as I routinely use standard 3.5” drives with my NAS boxes. Still, not having the ability to use 2.5” drives might limit the N2560 a bit as some people do like to use SSDs with their NAS boxes for maximum performance.

The price of the N2560 right now on Amazon is about $190 making it a very affordable NAS solution that has some decent specs. The dual core Intel Atom CPU should be more than worthy of handling anything you can throw at it and thanks to the 2gb of ddr3 ram everything should run smoothly. All in all the Thecus N2560 is great choice for a NAS for those looking for decent specs and lots of features but don’t want to pay a lot of money.

 

  

 

Pros:
+HDMI output
+Plenty of features
+Quiet
+Decent speeds
+Looks nice
+Plenty of media options
+Simple setup

Cons:
-No 2.5″ drive support
-Uses rails for hard drives

Grades:	9 out of 10
Overall
Design / Aesthetic
Value / Price
Performance / Usage

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