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UGREEN’s New ARM-powered Budget NAS Is Perfect for Photos, Just Don’t Expect Much Else
I’ve been telling people for years that owning a NAS (or Network Attached Storage) is one of the smartest tech investments you can make (here’s my list of top tech essentials for 2025 and beyond). Your data lives locally, you pay once for storage instead of renting it forever, and you get complete control over how everything works. The long-term economics make sense, the customization potential is massive, and you avoid the very real problem of your photos being scraped for AI training or handed over to government agencies or sold to data brokers. Cloud storage sounds convenient until you realize you’re paying $200 a year for the privilege of someone else owning your memories and potentially monetizing them in ways you never agreed to.
That said, NAS devices have always had a learning curve that scared away casual users. The setup process, RAID configurations, network settings, and maintenance requirements made them feel like enthusiast gear rather than consumer products. UGREEN’s new ARM-powered NASync DH2300 and DH4300 are trying to change that equation by targeting the specific use case of automatic photo backup and basic file storage. They’re priced at $210 and $430 respectively, which positions them as direct alternatives to multi-year Google Photos or iCloud subscriptions. The question is whether these ARM-based units make sense when UGREEN’s own x86 models exist at higher price points with significantly more flexibility.
Designer: UGREEN
What you get for the budget price is a 2-bay DH2300 that runs on a Rockchip RK3576 processor with 8 cores at 2.2 GHz, paired with 4GB of non-upgradable LPDDR4X RAM and a 32GB system drive. These NASync models have Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI output, USB-C, and two USB 3.2 Type-A ports. The design uses a top-down lidded approach that makes drive installation easier and reduces the footprint. You can theoretically store up to 60TB with two 30TB drives, but most people will mirror their drives in RAID 1 for redundancy, which means 30TB of usable storage. The 4-bay DH4300 bumps things up with a Rockchip RK3588C at 2.4 GHz, 8GB of RAM, and a 2 Gigabit Ethernet port. It supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10, with a maximum 120TB raw capacity using four 30TB drives. Both units run UGOS, which is Debian-based and has matured considerably over the past few years based on user reviews and testing.
The ARM architecture choice creates very specific trade-offs that you need to understand before buying. These processors use RISC instruction sets that prioritize power efficiency over raw performance and x86 compatibility. What this means in practical terms: the DH2300 and DH4300 will handle automatic photo backups from your phone beautifully, organize files efficiently, and run UGOS’s built-in apps without breaking a sweat. They draw roughly 20 to 25 watts during operation and 4 to 6 watts on standby, compared to 35 to 45 watts and 10 to 15 watts for typical x86 NAS units. Over five years of 24/7 operation, that power difference translates to actual money saved on your electricity bill (which admittedly has been getting more and more expensive over the past few months). The thermal efficiency also means quieter operation since less heat requires less aggressive cooling. If your NAS sits in a bedroom or living room, that silent running matters more than benchmark scores.
But here’s what ARM struggles with or can’t do at all. Plex transcoding, which is when you stream your movie collection to different devices and the server automatically converts formats so everything plays smoothly, won’t work well here. Docker container support exists but many of these apps that tech enthusiasts install are built for computer processors and won’t run properly on ARM chips. Installing alternative operating systems like TrueNAS or Unraid is technically possible but practically more trouble than it’s worth. Virtual machines, which let you run multiple computers inside your NAS for testing or experimentation, are essentially off the table. If you want to use your NAS for homelabbing projects like running Pi-hole as a network-wide ad blocker or Home Assistant as a smart home controller, you’re going to hit limitations. The UGOS app ecosystem is functional but nowhere near as extensive as Synology’s DSM or what you can build on a computer-processor system with Docker. This is a photos and files appliance, not a do-everything server platform.
UGREEN made two decisions that genuinely puzzle me. First, they removed the SD card slot that every other NASync model includes. If you’re targeting people who want automatic photo backup, a significant portion of that audience shoots on DSLRs or mirrorless cameras that use SD cards. Photographers need to offload those cards regularly, and having to use a USB adapter or card reader adds friction to a workflow that should be seamless. Second, the RAM is soldered and non-upgradable. The DH2300’s 4GB might become a bottleneck when using AI photo organization features, which are increasingly standard in modern NAS photo apps. Given that competitors offer RAM upgrade paths, this feels like an unnecessary limitation for devices you expect to use for five to ten years.
Let’s address the elephant in the room: UGREEN’s own x86 models. The DXP2800 costs around $314 to $349 depending on sales, which is $104 to $139 more than the ARM DH2300. For that price, you get an Intel N100 processor, 8GB of DDR5 RAM, dual M.2 NVMe slots, and 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet. That hardware can run Docker containers smoothly, handle Plex transcoding (for streaming local media), support virtual machines, and give you the flexibility to grow into more advanced use cases. The DXP4800 is around $495, just $65 more than the DH4300, with similar spec advantages. For enthusiasts or anyone who might want to experiment with self-hosting services beyond photo backup, those x86 models are objectively better investments. The extra upfront cost buys you options and longevity that ARM fundamentally cannot provide.
So who are these ARM units actually for? The person who just wants their iPhone or Android phone to automatically back up photos when they connect to home WiFi, organized by date and face recognition, accessible from any device on the network. The household that’s tired of paying Google or Apple $10 to $20 monthly for cloud storage when a one-time hardware purchase eliminates that subscription forever. The user who values quiet operation and low power consumption because the NAS lives in a shared space and runs constantly. The beginner who doesn’t want to learn about advanced containers or storage configurations beyond the basics and just needs something that works out of the box for a specific, limited purpose. Worth noting: basic AI photo features like face recognition and object detection work fine on these ARM chips, but if you want to run multiple AI services simultaneously or more computationally heavy models, you’ll hit performance walls. If you fit one of those profiles and you’re confident you won’t expand into advanced home server territory, the DH2300 or DH4300 will serve you well.
The broader competitive landscape shows these units priced reasonably but not exceptionally. TerraMaster’s F2-212 costs $169.99 for a 2-bay unit, though with weaker specs. Synology’s DS223j sits around $250 but comes with Synology’s superior software ecosystem. QNAP’s TS-464 offers more expansion options at a higher price point. The real comparison point is UGREEN’s own lineup, where the price-to-performance ratio of their x86 models makes the ARM versions look less compelling unless power efficiency and simplicity are your primary concerns. Synology remains the software king with the most polished interface and mature app ecosystem, but you pay a premium for that experience. UGREEN’s UGOS has closed the gap considerably and works well for basic tasks, even if it lacks the depth of features that enthusiasts want.
Here’s my take: if you know you only need photo and file storage, never plan to run Plex or Docker, and value low power consumption, the DH2300 or DH4300 are solid choices at their price points. They do exactly what they promise without pretending to be something they’re not. But if you have even a slight interest in expanding your NAS usage beyond those basics, or if you might want to experiment with self-hosted services down the line, spend the extra money on the x86 DXP2800 or DXP4800. The flexibility is worth it, and you won’t feel limited six months after purchase when you discover something cool you want to try but can’t because of ARM’s architectural constraints. And if you’re a photographer who regularly shoots on actual cameras, skip both ARM models entirely and get something with an SD card slot. That omission is genuinely hard to justify for a product positioned as a Google Photos replacement when a huge chunk of serious photo-takers don’t use phones as their primary camera.
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