QNAP provides fanless ‘living room NAS’ with HDMI and XBMC

QNAP has announced the HS-251, a NAS that, according to the manufacturer, is completely silent due to the absence of fans. The NAS offers two drive bays and is equipped with an HDMI output. QNAP has also included XBMC version 12 in the software.

The HS-251 runs on a dual-core Intel Celeron processor with a clock speed of 2.41GHz. There is 1GB DDR3 RAM, along with 512MB flash memory. Two 3.5″ or 2.5″ drives can be placed in the NAS. The housing is made of brushed aluminum.

The NAS contains no fans internally, but is passively cooled, so that the device must operate more quietly and is therefore suitable for the living room according to QNAP. In addition, the HS-251 lends itself to media center functionality thanks to an HDMI connection and support for XBMC version 12. According to the manufacturer, transcoding of media content is also possible. Furthermore, the device contains two gigabit Ethernet connections, as well as two USB 3.0 and two USB 2.0 inputs. An infrared sensor is also present, so that an MCE-compatible remote control can be used.

QNAP runs the NAS on its QTS firmware. This operating system offers about a hundred different applications that can be installed, such as applications to access photos and music remotely. Furthermore, the NAS can be controlled via a smartphone or tablet thanks to mobile apps.

The power consumption of the NAS is specified by QNAP at approximately 9W with drives in idle mode and 15.7W with two 1TB hard drives running. According to the manufacturer, the HS-251 is available immediately. The company has not yet released a suggested retail price.