Asus is latest manufacturer to out a Windows Home Server. The TS Mini Server seems to pack the goods too with up to a 2TB capacity and a modest price. Too bad it doesn’t have easy-access hard drive trays for expandability.
But I can’t hate on everything. Asus has built-in a couple custom WHS plug-ins that allow for more detailed back-up and restore options, along with an interface for an online storage locker that’s free for the first year.
Hardware wise, the TS Mini Server is on par with other offerings. A N280 1.66GHz Atom is at the core, paired with 2GB of RAM and up to a 2TB hard drive. It 6x USB ports, 2 eSATA ports, and, of course, Gigabit Ethernet. The server isn’t shipping yet, but Amazon has the 2TB version priced at $529 and available for pre-order.
In case any one wonders, the 500 GB model’s RAM is soldered on the mainboard; there is no slot to add additional memory. However, I’ve not had any problems with this config. For example, I moved my music to the server in 10GB chunks and tested I/O by streaming (over a megabit network; server is gigabit capable) an mkv movie to VLC and had no hiccups.