Z4Pro+ is an Intel Twin Lake powered NAS that supports up to 4 HDs, 2 SSDs, and 2.5 GbE LAN

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Chinese device makers have jumped on the NAS (network attached storage) bandwagon in a big way over the past few years, with companies like Beelink, MINISFORUM, GMK, and AOOSTAR getting in on the action.

Now there's a new model called the Z4Pro+ that combines an unusual design with a strong feature set including support for Intel N150 or Core 3 N355 Twin Lake processor options, room for up to four hard drives, and two M.2 slots for solid state storage. While I've found a listing for a wildly overpriced model at AliExpress, we'll likely see cheaper options soon – ITHome reports that the Z4Pro+ sells for 2,699 CNY (about $375) and up in China.

The Z4Pro+ has 32GB of onboard eMMC storage that holds the device's operating system, support for up to 16GB of single-channel DDR5-4800 RAM (although Twin Lake chips have been shown to support 32GB), and a set of ports that includes:

1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gbps)

1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A (10 Gbps)

1 x USB 2.0 Type-A (480 Mbps)

1 x eSATA

1 x HDMI 2.1

2 x 2.5 GbE LAN

There are also dual fans, a removable dust screen, and a heat sink to aid with cooling.

In China one of the key selling points for this device is the ZOS 2.0 operating system, which is said to include AI capabilities for analyzing, sorting, and making your files searchable. It offers Google Photos-like features including the ability to recognize people and objects in your images so you can search by text, as well as surfacing your content in a timeline view so you can see what you were doing on this day last year, for example.

Ian tells me that this operating system is one of the key reasons we've seen a rise in NAS systems from Chinese device makers. This homegrown operating system offers an alternative to Windows or the (mostly Linux-based) alternatives that power network attached storage devices from more established brands like Synology, QNAP, Asustor, and TerraMaster.

For customers outside of China, the ZOS operating system probably isn't much of a draw. But since these systems tend to have x86 processors, it should be relatively simple to install a third-party operating system such as TrueNAS, Unraid, OpenMediaVault, or Windows.

via ITHome and iNews

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