Now that we have shown you the tear down of the Synology DS1513+ we have to show you if all of the hard work and attention to detail pay off in the form of performance and ease of use. There is nothing like getting a product and finding out that you have to read a huge manual just to change the IP address on it. So out goal now is to tear down the operating system and hardware performance in the same manner that we did the physical box. Let’s get started shall we?
Value -Value is another very subjective topic. What is expensive to some might be a deal to others. You can look at this topic in multiple ways. One is raw price and the other is what you get for the money. Each is accurate and both are correct ways to look at price/value. We tend to look at features, performance and real-property when we discuss value. However, we also take into account the raw cash cost of the item. The DS1513+ as reviewed will set you back about $1350.00 (plus shipping and any applicable taxes). That is $850 for the DS1513+ and $500 for the five Seagate 2TB drives (ST2000DM001). To get the full HA pair your cost will double of course, but even at $2700.00 (plus shipping and any taxes) you are well below other solutions that are capable of storage HA. Additionally when you look at what you are getting here; large amount of storage, no need for additional licenses, email, backup, virus protection on files, VPN access, private cloud services it is something of a deal. For a home user $1350 is a little much, but for an enthusiast or small business it is not and the features, performance and everything Synology bundles into the DS1513+ make it a good investment. For those that feel the $1350 is too much many of these features are also available in their smaller NAS products so you are not locked out there.
Conclusion -To wrap things up, Synology makes a very good product that has features beyond the apparent price point that each one is marketed at. For the DS1513+ this is even more evident as you have some excellent security and availability options without breaking the bank (relatively). With the DS1513+You get good network bandwidth, storage size, expandability, flexibility and much more. The DSM OS that runs the DS1513+ is another plus and could be considered a feature all on its own. When you put all of these items together you get some solid performance. Synology also made sure that your investment into the DS1513+ will not be just for a place to put your files. Even if you do not have the funds to build a larger network Synology has applications that will give you many of those options right inside the NAS. The price point is one that will make it attractive for small to medium sized businesses as well as for home offices and enthusiast. It would seem that Synology is positioning themselves to have a big impact on the storage world and the DS1513+ will be just one of the products that will be helping them do this.
With its combination of price, performance, flexibility and ease of use we are awarding the Synology DS1513+ our Gold Key Award and Must Have for the Small to Medium Business Crowd.
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