Synology DS223j vs UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus

The UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus is the more capable NAS by a wide margin, with four bays, 8 GB of DDR5 expandable to 64 GB, RAID 5 and RAID 6, two M.2 NVMe slots and an Intel Pentium Gold processor that runs containers and virtual machines. The Synology DS223j is a two-bay entry file server.

Ambition. The Synology DS223j is a two-bay ARM box with 1 GB of soldered memory that cannot run Docker or virtual machines, while the UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus is a four-bay x86-64 machine built to host applications, with a 144 TB raw ceiling and NVMe storage pools.

Only the UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus. Its five-core Intel Pentium Gold 8505 runs both, plus hardware transcoding for Plex. The ARM processor in the Synology DS223j supports neither, so it stays a file server.

The Synology DS223j, clearly: 18.2 dB and 16.31 W, quiet enough to sit in a living room or bedroom. The UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus is rated up to 34 dB, which is normal for a four-bay machine with more drives spinning but noticeable in a quiet room.

Synology DSM, which runs on the Synology DS223j and has years of ecosystem behind it, including Btrfs snapshots, SHR hybrid RAID and Surveillance Station with 12 camera channels. The UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus runs UGOS Pro, which is far newer and still filling gaps.

Anyone who wants a quiet, low-power, inexpensive backup and file store with proven software, and who is certain they will never need containers, virtual machines, RAID 5 or more than two drives.

Buyers who want the NAS to be a home server: four bays with RAID 5 or RAID 6, NVMe caching or storage pools, a 64 GB memory ceiling, 4K HDMI output and an SD card slot for direct card offload.