Synology DS124 1-bay
Score: 62/100
Synology BeeStation 4TB
Score: 48/100Rankings
The DS124 is a compact single-bay NAS that runs DSM, offers Btrfs support and low power consumption, targeting home users and small offices needing reliable file storage. Its simplicity comes at the cost of limited RAM, no RAID and no media transcoding capabilities.
The BeeStation BST150-4T is a plug-and-play personal cloud NAS with built-in 4 TB storage and on-device AI for photo organization. It excels in simplicity and privacy but offers no RAID, media server functions, or expandability.
| Attribute | Synology DS124 1-bay | |
|---|---|---|
— | 4 TBbest | |
1best | 1best | |
1 Gbpsbest | 1 Gbpsbest | |
4best | 4best | |
1 GBbest | 1 GBbest | |
| ↓ lower better | 10.69 W | 7.85 Wbest |
| ↓ lower better | 19 dBbest | — |
2 years | 3 yearsbest |
Click an attribute name to sort · Green = best, red = worst (relative to this comparison)
| Attribute | Synology DS124 1-bay | |
|---|---|---|
Security(1) | ||
OS Compatibility | DSM | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android |
Performance(1) | ||
Power Consumption (Active) (W) | 10.69 W | 7.85 W |
Build & Design(2) | ||
Weight (kg) | 1.247 kg | 0.82 kg |
Warranty Period (years) | 2 years | 3 years |
Storage & Capacity(2) | ||
RAID Support | Basic | None |
Supported Drive Types | 3.5" SATA HDD,2.5" SATA SSD/HDD | 3.5" HDD |
Products in the top-left offer the best value (high score, low price).
Professional reviewers consider the DS124 a solid upgrade over the DS223, highlighting its faster Realtek ARM processor, Btrfs snapshots and ultra-quiet design, while noting the lack of transcoding and internal expandability.
Everyday users praise the plug-and-play setup, quiet operation and dependable backup tools, but criticize the limited 1 GB RAM, single-bay design and inability to handle media transcoding.
Professional reviewers praise the BeeStation for its ultra-simple QR-code setup, AI-driven photo organization, and solid SMB file sharing performance, but criticize the lack of media server functions, iSCSI, and extensibility.
Everyday users love the quick setup, AI photo tagging, and subscription-free private cloud, while common complaints focus on the absence of media streaming, audible HDD noise, and the fixed 4 TB limit.
“This NAS is easy to set up, like all Synology products, and the system does what you expect. I'm using it as an SMB drive with automatic backup to Synology C3, and that works like a charm. You could run other services, but I'd rather have a separate device with more RAM and a better CPU for that.”
“Set up in under 5 minutes-just scan, plug in, and go.”
“Wish it could stream movies-I expected Plex support.”
Choose DS124 if you need expandability, app ecosystem, and media streaming; choose BeeStation for a simple, fixed-capacity personal cloud with AI photo features.
