Western Digital My Book Live
Score: 68/100
Qnap TS-133-US 2GB
Score: 66/100Rankings
The WD My Book Live 3TB is a personal-cloud NAS offering built-in media streaming, Time Machine backup and gigabit Ethernet performance. Its single-drive design means no RAID protection and the modest hardware caps overall speed. Ideal for home users who need simple media sharing and Mac backup without the need for redundancy.
The QNAP TS-133-US is a compact 1-bay desktop NAS with a quad-core ARM processor and 2 GB RAM, aimed at entry-level home and small-office users. Its limited RAM, lack of RAID and only 1 GbE networking restrict scalability and performance for demanding tasks. Best suited for beginners needing simple backups and basic media streaming.
| Attribute | | |
|---|---|---|
3 TBbest | — | |
1best | 1best | |
— | 4best | |
— | 1.8 GHzbest | |
0.256 GB | 2 GBbest | |
61.2 MB/sbest | — | |
45.5 MB/sbest | — | |
— | 2best |
Click an attribute name to sort · Green = best, red = worst (relative to this comparison)
| Attribute | | |
|---|---|---|
Performance(2) | ||
CPU Model | APM82181 CPU | ARM Cortex-A55 |
Memory (RAM) (GB) | 0.256 GB | 2 GB |
Build & Design(1) | ||
Dimensions (H×W×D) (cm) | 13.97×5.08×16.76 cm cm | 15.75×18.80×15.75 cm cm |
Products in the top-left offer the best value (high score, low price).
Professional reviewers commend the My Book Live for its straightforward setup, solid gigabit Ethernet performance, and useful media streaming capabilities, but they criticize its lack of redundancy, modest hardware, and performance ceiling compared to more robust NAS offerings.
Everyday users value the ease of installation, automatic network discovery, and remote access, especially for sharing media and backing up Macs, while many express concern over the single-drive design and limited speed for larger file transfers.
Professional reviewers commend the TS-133 as the best-value 1-bay NAS, highlighting its powerful ARM quad-core CPU, generous 2 GB RAM for a budget unit, extensive app support and fast USB 3.0 connectivity.
Everyday users love the straightforward entry into the QNAP ecosystem, the quiet operation and the solid single-drive performance for backups and media streaming. Recurring frustrations revolve around a confusing initial setup, limited RAM/CPU when running multiple services, the single-bay design's lack of redundancy, and the perceived slowness of the 1 GbE network.
