At $679.99, the four-bay uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro NAS is a capable mid-range NAS for creators and small teams in the Apple ecosystem, with an excellent value proposition.
uGreen has built out its NAS range quickly since entering the category. AppleInsider has covered uGreen NAS hardware before, including the DXP4800 GT.
The DXP4800 Pro sits above the GT and Plus in the four-bay lineup. It pairs a six-core Intel chip with generous memory headroom.
The pitch here is sustained performance for heavier work. Docker, virtual machines, and media processing are the target use cases.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Specifications
| Product | uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro |
| Price | $679.99 ($799.99 list) |
| CPU | Intel Core i3-1315U (6 cores, 8 threads) |
| CPU design | 2 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores |
| RAM (standard) | 8GB DDR5 |
| RAM slots | 2 x SODIMM |
| Max RAM | 96GB |
| System storage | 128GB SSD |
| Drive bays | 4 x SATA (up to 32TB each) |
| M.2 SSD slots | 2 x M.2 NVMe |
| Max storage capacity | 144TB (4 x 32TB SATA plus 2 x 8TB M.2) |
| RAID modes | JBOD, Basic, RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 |
| Ethernet | 1 x 10GbE, 1 x 2.5GbE |
| PCIe slot | None |
| Thunderbolt | None |
| Front ports | 1 x USB-C, 1 x USB-A (both 10Gbps), SD 3.0 |
| Rear ports | 1 x USB-A 5Gbps, 2 x USB-A 2.0, HDMI 4K |
| Operating system | UGOS Pro |
| Dimensions (inches) | 10.1 x 7 x 7 |
| Warranty | 2 years |
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Design
The DXP4800 Pro shares the look of its siblings. It is a grey-black four-bay box with front-loading drive trays. Nobody’s going to mistake it for Apple design, but it also looks better than most in its class.
The front panel holds the power button and status LEDs. It also carries an SD card slot, a 10Gbps USB-C port, and a USB-A 10Gbps port.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Front ports
Those front ports make quick media imports easy. A photographer can pull card footage without reaching around the back, nor requiring a separate plug-in card reader.
There is not much else to say about the design. It’s probably going to be living in your network closet, rather than on your desk.
There are six lockable drive bays at the front, numbered from left to right. They retain uGreen’s normal design ethos with trays that are tool-free and hot-swappable. This remains a nice touch.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Storage
The four bays each take a SATA drive up to 32TB. That alone allows 128TB before any other storage is added.
Two M.2 NVMe slots supplement the main bays. Each takes up to an 8TB stick, adding 16TB more capacity, or caching for extra speed.
uGreen lists a total maximum of 144TB, which combines the spinning drives with the two NVMe sticks.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: A hatch hides the NVMe slots.
The NVMe slots also deliver a real speed benefit. Data stored on them is going to be noticeably quicker to access than any stored on the SATA bays.
RAID options span JBOD, Basic, and RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10. That ranges from pure speed to strong redundancy, depending on your particular needs.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Drive bays.
We tested the unit with four 4TB Seagate Red drives provided by Ugreen. We also used four 24TB WD Red Pro, which retail for $1,059 each on Amazon.
SSDs used for testing included a pair of Samsung 990 Evo Plus drives, and a pair of Samsung SSD 9100 Pro 1TB drives. You don’t need to use drives this fast. Stick with PCI-E 3.0 drives if you have them, as they’re cheaper, and still provide more than enough speed.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Connectivity
Networking uses one 10GbE port and one 2.5GbE port. The 10GbE is the main one you’ll care about, due to the sheer amount of bandwidth available through one port.
Of course, that’s assuming you have a 10-gig Ethernet network available to you.
That single 10GbE port undercuts pricier rivals on value. Many competitors charge more for equivalent 10-gigabit networking.
Usually, the addition of the second network port gives a few benefits, but link aggregation isn’t really one. There’s not much point to it if you already have a 10-gigabit port available to you and sufficient network infrastructure.
A more useful reason for it is to treat the two ports as independent network connections. If you have sufficient networking know-how, you could limit connectivity through specific connections for some services, while leaving the other free for others, for example.
There is a catch common to all 10GbE gear, and that is infrastructure. While you could use a 10GbE-capable Mac to enjoy the massive bandwidth, that’s not immediately achievable for all.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Rear ports, including those two Ethernet connections.
You’re more likely to find benefits from upgrading the network infrastructure to a faster speed, if budget is available. Imagine ten gigabit-class network connections all accessing the NAS through the 10GbE port on a corporate network.
The rest of the rear ports handle expansion, video, and data ingestion. There are two USB-A 2.0 ports, one USB-A 5Gbps connection, and a 4K 60Hz HDMI output.
The HDMI port is handy if you want to use it as a playback device. But really, you’re gonna put Jellyfin or Plex on it and access your content over the network or the internet. It’s nice to have the feature, though.
While these ports are pretty good for this class of NAS, there are some omissions that could’ve been included here. First, there is no PCIe slot for further expansion.
The other missing bit is Thunderbolt 4 here, though there is USB-C at 10Gbps. There’s less of an incentive to have this NAS on your desk, since you don’t get to enjoy Thunderbolt’s serious amounts of bandwidth for file ingestion.
The upper-tier DXP6800 Pro adds both of those. Buyers who need an extra-fast network port or Thunderbolt should look there.
There are enough hard drive bays and SSDs in here, when packed, to saturate even a 10-gig network. You’re mostly going to be limited on speed by other traffic on your wired network.
Monitoring traffic, we saw no data sent elsewhere. Rumors circulated early that uGreen was somehow sending a user’s data to China, but let us debunk that claim again.
Your data is your data. Like with the other uGreen NAS units we’ve tested, it goes nowhere else than where you send it.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Processor and performance
The DXP4800 Pro runs an Intel Core i3-1315U. It is a six-core, eight-thread chip with two performance and four efficiency cores.
That is powerful for this class of device. It handles Docker, virtual machines, and transcoding without strain, so it should work really well for hosting network services.
The chip includes Intel Quick Sync for hardware transcoding. So, Plex and Jellyfin can run in Docker with accelerated 4K playback.
Memory is a real strength here. The 8GB of DDR5 included can expand to 96GB across two slots.
Of course, that depends on whether you can afford to make that upgrade in the current climate. This may be more feasible later in 2027.
Even so, that ceiling is higher than most rivals allow. Heavy Docker or virtual machine users have room to grow, if you can get the upgrades.
One caveat surfaced under load in testing. The unit drew around 140 watts when getting slammed with I/O and heavy processing.
The fan is also loud under load. It is audible enough to matter in a quiet room.
In our testing, we had a baseline of 38 DBa of ambient noise measured with a Kanomax model 4431 meter, with the test gear two meters away from the unit. Under absolute maximum load, I measured about 49 DBa in the same position.
How much this matters varies. If it’s in a rack downstairs from where you’re computing, it won’t matter. It might matter next to your television or on your desk near your computing station.
And if you’re not crushing it with load, you won’t see this at all.
Speaking of crushing it with load, the i3-1315u is a decent processor, but it won’t challenge your Apple Silicon for computing grunt.
Geekbench 7 single-core score comparison
The Core i3-1315U does reasonably well in Geekbench 7, with it scoring at 1,932 for the single-core results and 6,383 for multi-core.
To clarify, this is reasonably powerful for a consumer SOHO NAS, which doesn’t usually have deal with processing outside of serving files and limited other services. If you put it against Apple’s hardware, it’s not impressive, but that’s okay, it’s not supposed to be.
The M4 Mac mini can easily beat the DXP4800 Pro in single-core results, with its 3,276 result almost 70% better. On multi-core, the M4’s 15,356 is a 2.4-times improvement over the chip used in the NAS.
It’s a much closer race when you look at the M1 Mac mini. The single-core score of 2,187 gives the M1 a slimmer 13% lead, while the multi-core score of 8,588 is a closer but still significant 35% better.
Geekbench 7 multi-core score comparison
Yes, the DXP4800 Pro is powerful enough to do advanced NAS tasks, but it can be outpaced by Apple’s six-year-old compact desktop hardware.
That said, the DXP4800 Pro is still more than capable of handling itself, for what the target market will probably need to do on it.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Software and Apple features
The DXP4800 Pro runs UGOS Pro. The software has matured over several years and is easy to manage.
It’s a platform that has its own selection of apps, just like any other. Again, there are also AI capabilities shoehorned in for your images, with face and scene recognition and semantic search capabilities.
We still don’t recommend the AI features.
For Apple users, UGOS Pro supports Time Machine backups. Setup is not instant, but uGreen has a procedure to follow to get it done.
The bundled apps cover the usual NAS tasks. There are photo, media, and Docker tools built in.
The no-subscription angle is part of the value case. Local storage keeps photos and camera footage off cloud services.
One point of flexibility stands out. Anyone who dislikes UGOS Pro can install TrueNAS or Unraid instead.
That option suits the tinkerer and the privacy-minded. The hardware is not locked to uGreen’s own software.
The onboard software options are what you’d expect from a typical NAS. You have your private image album library system, your video storage and playback tools, and other productivity-centric items.
If you’re into downloading large files legitimately via BitTorrent, there’s a tool built in for just that, but you can install more if you want.
But, with all of this performance on tap, users may want to do more eventually. Thankfully, there’s the aforementioned Docker support, so you can install an array of different network services on the NAS.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Powerful four-bay NAS with a thirst
The DXP4800 Pro makes a clear pitch. An Intel Core i3, 96GB memory ceiling, and 10GbE suit creators avoiding cloud fees.
The processor and memory headroom are its best features. Both suit heavy Docker and virtual machine work, which should make any homelabber happy.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: The rear has a magnetic fan filter.
The tradeoffs are power and noise. Around 140 watts under load and a loud fan are real costs to weigh. It’s nothing if you’re coming from a cheese-grater Mac Pro in either regard, but it’s all relative.
For Apple households, Time Machine support and macOS compatibility fit well. A 10GbE-capable Mac or switch unlocks the benefits of the extremely fast network ports. Or at the very least, the 2.5GbE port should encourage some more budget-friendly network upgrades.
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro Pros
- Intel Core i3 with a 96GB memory ceiling
- Dual 10GbE cheaper than many rivals
- Real speed gain from the NVMe slots
uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro Cons
- Draws around 140 watts under load
- No PCIe slot or Thunderbolt 4
- Fan is loud under sustained load
Rating: 4 out of 5
This unit is in a great spot in uGreen’s lineup. There are very expensive units, with many bays and overkill processors, and there are smaller units with less processing power for less money.
In a world of expensive storage, two-bay will do. Four-bay allows for some expansion, and when you have some spare cash, throwing in some NMVe storage for caching will boost performance.
Add more RAM, offload some tasks to Docker, and it’s a great, upper-mid range add to your everyday computing grunt. And, its a great media server to boot.
Where to buy the uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro
The uGreen NASync DXP4800 Pro is available from Amazon for $679.98. It’s also available directly from Ugreen for $679.99.
The drives will cost more. A lot more.
