Introduction

When Thecus asked me to take a look at their new N4200 small office NAS, I wasted no time agreeing to get the unit in for review. I had seen the press release and the email announcements and upon glancing over them could see right from the start that it was a little different than some of the other NAS appliances I reviewed in the past, but it was just another day at the office so to speak.

These things kind of just all blend in together after years of press releases, tests, reviews and Q&A time with readers. Thecus has yet to release a poorly designed product or even anything that I would question the validity of in their marketing statements, so when they have something coming out it is all most a given that the product will be great, but great is really just their normal, day-to-day way of doing things. It can be a bit like the guys that review Ferraris from the Robb Report at times.

"OK, cool, another red Ferrari. Send it over and I will take a look then let you know what I think. I gotta run for now but keep in touch…the kids need me to get breakfast ready. Yes I am sure it is fantastic with a bunch or horsepower and built in GPS that can talk and park the car." Then they just go about their day.

The Thecus N4200 arrived and since NAS servers take a very long time to test, I dove right in taking my pictures of the box, kind of glancing over things and moving along. When it was time to open things up is when it hit me like a steam roller. The new OLED display is just gorgeous, a real improvement over the old display. At that point I turned the unit around and the real shock came; there is a battery slot and more importantly, a battery!

Thecus' marketing material may hype up the display that is so clear you can read it from 10 feet away and is actually useful for more than just checking your IP address, but the real standout product feature of the N4200 is the included battery that slides into the back of the NAS, making it one of the most cost effective, less pain in the behind NAS servers ever made for the small office market. This isn't a feature that is equivalent to a car parking itself; it is more like an autopilot. How many of you have a car that can drive itself? Well, that is the same number of other NAS appliances on the market that have built in battery protection.