Would you ever go back?

By meeseontheleese
in Linux

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

ichi

Posted
Posted
For instance,you want to play video's, well just install Mplayer! Right! This may work on 2% of the formats out there. For instance it will not play avi's, wmv's, divx's, xvid's without going through 4 days of searhing user groups to see what codec is causing the problem  and try and correct.

How about just browsing the mplayer's web page? Almost every codec you'll ever need can be downloaded there.

I mean, did Linux ever bring out the PDA, Tablet PC, or a Compact Edition that can be installed on devices?

Yes, yes and... wtf is a compact edition?

There're several embedded distros, and you can make a custom distro in order to use it in any weird custom device, if needed.

Proficient

SunnyB

Posted
Posted

Linux is good; Linux is great. BSD is wonderful.

But at the end of the day, when all the Linux fanboys

go to bed and dream of being the next Linus Torvalds

the world continues to run on Windows.

Don't give me any of that sh1t that Linux runs the

most secure servers or "....Linux is gaining on Windows..."

or "...so many big corporations and municipalities are

going over to Linux...". All exaggerated success stories

to make yourself feel better about a bad choice and/or the

fact that you can't, or won't, spend the money for a real

desktop operating system.

Go back to Windows? You're damn right. When play time

is over and you must go back to work, Windows is the OS

of choice.

Linux can't cut it in a production environment.

Proficient

SunnyB

Posted
Posted
Right, it is much more productive to spend thousands of hours removing virus and spyware laden desktops................

585795000[/snapback]

More exaggerated, Linux feel good, propaganda. Windows needs a

competent virus/trojan scanner. True. Linux needs none. Also true.

After this fact, once the system is secure, the production work is done

on a Windows based machine. Any other than that is a lie by those

that have the most to gain. Linux aficionados.

My only Linux machine that doesn't give me any trouble is the Debian

box that isn't connected to the internet. Strictly bookkeeping. That's

about the extent of it's usefullness. And the newest, the FreeBSD box,

a total waste of space. An electroninc boat anchor. A secure boat anchor

but still as wet. Next year will see the replacement of these three turds.

No one wants to work on them. The fact is, they can't. Nothing of value

can be accomplished on a linux box and if it doesn't make money, it's gone.

Proficient

David Scaife

Posted
Posted
Linux is good; Linux is great. BSD is wonderful.

But at the end of the day, when all the Linux fanboys

go to bed and dream of being the next Linus Torvalds

the world continues to run on Windows.

[blah blah blah]

Go back to Windows?  You're damn right.  When play time

is over and you must go back to work, Windows is the OS

of choice. 

Linux can't cut it in a production environment.

585794926[/snapback]

You're posting your opinion as fact and anti-linux propaganda. Not a smart thing to do, especially in a Linux forum. Respect the choices that others make. You may think Linux is the wrong choice; but you are not entitled to speak for everyone. To be hosest, switching to Linux was the best thing I ever did for my education.

P.S. Isn't it ironic that you said "When play time is over and you must go back to work, Windows is the OS of choice."... and yet a lot of people here use Linux for work, and Windows for games... funny, that :b

P.P.S. I think we'd all appreciate it if there were no more provocative posts in this thread.

[Edit] Now you went and did it again! Please stop, and start posting intelligent discussion-oriented responses, before someone starts fighting fire with fire :no:

Veteran

Mike Douglas

Posted
Posted
More exaggerated, Linux feel good, propaganda. Windows needs a

competent virus/trojan scanner. True.  Linux needs none. Also true.

After this fact, once the system is secure, the production work is done

on a Windows based machine.  Any other than that is a lie by those

that have the most to gain.  Linux aficionados.

My only Linux machine that doesn't give me any trouble is the Debian

box that isn't connected to the internet. Strictly bookkeeping.  That's

about the extent of it's usefullness. And the newest, the FreeBSD box,

a total waste of space. An electroninc boat anchor.  A secure boat anchor

but still as wet. Next year will see the replacement of these three turds.

No one wants to work on them. The fact is, they can't.  Nothing of value

can be accomplished on a linux box and if it doesn't make money, it's gone.

585795139[/snapback]

I planned a rebuttal to this post, but as I re-read it, there doesn't seem to be

anything here. I mean, wow, paragraph upon paragraph of pure crap. I sit

here shocked about the lack of evidence (hell, lack of anything) in your last

two posts. Please return with something concrete :)

PS. I did however find the smaller rows much easier to read and I'll probably

adopt that style. If only you could pose an arguement as well as you typeset.

Grand Master

farmeunit

Posted
Posted
I disagree with everything you post.? For the new user it might be hard to install software, if you don't read your distro's FAQ, but once you understand the package management system, it is usually much easier to install software than in windows.?

585794492[/snapback]

How do you get easier than double-click on file, and then hit next? Also there are different package management systems, and deciding which distro to use. I have had little experience with Linux myself, but will soon after I get my other computer back. I just don't see how it's easier. I will find out I guess:rofl:l:

Proficient

LaNcom

Posted
Posted

farmeunit,

it's easier because: all software is installed and _completely_ uninstalled from one single place. On Windows, there are 37 different setup routines (Wise, InstallShield, InstallAnywhere, MSI, Nullsoft...), some applications use no installer at all, some add an uninstall icon to their menu entry, some are only available through "add/ remove software", some applications have no uninstaller at all, or they simply install everything as common files (that usually don't get uninstalled if you remove the application).

SunnyB,

sorry mate, you know nothing. Please, if you only intent to troll, go elsewhere.

BrentNewbury,

as already pointed out, Linux is available (and common) for PDA's, Tablet PC's, cellphones... It made your life even easier than you'd ever think Windows did, 'cause I'm quite sure you've dealt more than once with a Linux box without even noticing it (just about any Linksys/ Broadcom/ ASUS/ Buffalo router/ AP/ gateway runs on Linux, as well as several DVB receivers, stand-alone DVD recorders and a whole lot of other stuff).

Another thing is, if you're new to anything, you'll run into problems. That's the Nvidia drivers thing. Once you get used to the way stuff works on Linux, you'll have no problem. Most of the support request on this forum come from Linux noobs that just switched from Windows, so they are used to the MS way to handle stuff - and no, Linux is not a cheap Windows clone, it's a completely different OS, and it has completely different concepts. Having used Windows for a long while before switching to Linux only makes things harder. OTOH, with Linux, a lot of hardware works out of the box that, on Windows, will require you to hunt down drivers on the net, just to learn that the vendor is now defunct and there are no drivers for XP (I have some perfectly fine hardware with no 2k/ XP drivers - am I supposed to buy new stuff just because MS changed the driver API?), or that there are no drivers for Windows XP x64, or Windows on Alpha, or Windows IA64?!? All my hardware works perfectly on 64bit Linux, but half the equipment has no Windows x64 drivers available (not to mention IA64).

And believe it or not, there were quite a few people out there (myself included) that used computers at a time before Microsoft had any influence. And computers were quite usable back then...

Proficient

SunnyB

Posted
Posted (edited)
I planned a rebuttal to this post, but as I re-read it, there doesn't seem to be

anything here. I mean, wow, paragraph upon paragraph of pure crap. I sit

here shocked about the lack of evidence (hell, lack of anything) in your last

two posts. Please return with something concrete :)

PS. I did however find the smaller rows much easier to read and I'll probably

adopt that style. If only you could pose an arguement as well as you typeset.

585796104[/snapback]

Autocad by Autodesk.

Current or near current version please.

Any distro. Nothing in an emulator.

Show me just one.

SunnyB,

sorry mate, you know nothing. Please, if you only intent to troll, go elsewhere.

Troll? Read the name of the forum, << insult removed >>. N E O W I N

Get it? "Neo W I N" "W I N dows" "W I N ner"

Maybe you're more comfortable with this? "L I nux as in "L I ar"

Now you can go elsewhere.

Edited by markjensen
Proficient

LaNcom

Posted
Posted

SunnyB,

this might be Neowin, but this is the Linux forum...

And guess what, it's Autodesks fault that there's no Linux version of Autocad. OTOH, there are quite a few commercial high-end CAD systems available for Linux, so I don't really miss Autocad...

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Calm down people. I hate having to edit out personal insults out of posts. :crazy:

Currently, those who require a specific app that is only on one platform may be best suited to use that platform (at least during periods when that app is needed). There are some apps (I made a thread about AutoCAD just a few days ago, actually) that are needed by some people. At where work, we used to use something called RobCAD that was available for unix only. Obviously, for that case, Windows was not the proper OS.

So now let's get past focusing on the specific apps for specialized work, and let this thread resume its original intent of asking Linux users if they would ever switch back to a 100% Windows setup. If you want to discuss specific apps, or whose responsibility it is to port to a specific platform, please start your own thread.

And, on top of it all, stop resorting to petty generalizations or personal attacks.

Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted
What is so hard?

(windows user here)

585796860[/snapback]

I'm not sure what exactly MrA was referring to, but one thing is that once you acclimate to the 'different' way of package management (vs. Windows' various "installers"), keeping a Linux system up-to-date and current is effortless. Managing the various apps and keeping them current is a pain in Windows.

I find that the initial setup of a Linux system is usually quite a bit more work (most of it "learning", so once you are familiar it is quicker). The rewards come from using a properly set-up pc.

Proficient

David Scaife

Posted
Posted (edited)
Erm, what version of Windows do you use?

585796957[/snapback]

It's a pain compared to Linux because of the inconsitency. Not all programs actually bother to put entries in Add/Remove Programs... actually, I swear I read a post on this topic elsewhere in this thread.

Edit:

Ah yes, here it is:

It's easier because: all software is installed and _completely_ uninstalled from one single place. On Windows, there are 37 different setup routines (Wise, InstallShield, InstallAnywhere, MSI, Nullsoft...), some applications use no installer at all, some add an uninstall icon to their menu entry, some are only available through "add/ remove software", some applications have no uninstaller at all, or they simply install everything as common files (that usually don't get uninstalled if you remove the application).

585796248[/snapback]

And I might just add in that there's no registry fluff in Linux. That thing can get really bogged down in entries that old programs have just left there. In constrast, a program's per-user settings are stored in files under users' home directories; easy to delete if a program is removed, or a user wants to reset all the settings or decides not to use said program any more.

Edited by scaife
Grand Master

markwolfe Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted (edited)
Erm, what version of Windows do you use?

585796957[/snapback]

I don't use Windows any more. My wife does, however.

What I am referring to is that in Windows, each app is responsible for their own install/uninstall. There are a variety of methods for each vendor to choose from. It is very decentralized.

In Linux, using a package manager (such as apt-get, or the synaptic front-end to apt-get), you have a central place to update the OS, the underlying Linux kernel, plus all of your apps (firefox, konqueror, evolution, pine, celestia, OO.o, gimp, etc.). One click can make your entire PC current.

To do the same in Windows, you can do WU, but that is extremely limited in that it only does the core OS (for the most part). Updating every single one of your other apps is nearly impossible (and certainly impractical).

EDIT: n/m... scaife posted a nearly identical explanation..:whistle:e:

Explorer

crimson

Posted
Posted

Ill continue to use windows as my main computer. For my day to day computing needs windows covers more than I need. Linux/BSD can do it all, but why would I switch? I cant play all the mainstream games in linux, and i am an avid gamer. Dual booting is pointless in my opinion. Linux/BSD is known for its stability, if i have to reboot every day cause i want to play a game for an hour, I see no point. I have 11 FreeBSD servers, i just SSH in for my access. I love BSD to death, I couldnt see myself working without it, but when it comes to pleasure ill choose windows.

When linux gets better gaming support its going to get a fatter kernel and this in my opinion is not where it should be going. *nix for servers, windows for desktops. Ive run slackware, fedora core 2, freebsd all as my main pc, but i just cant stand to have to switch back and fourth. Ill stick with windows and just SSH into my servers and get what i need done. Its truly the best of both worlds.

Grand Master

MrA

Posted
Posted (edited)
I don't think he meant Windows is harder per se, but rather it is less powerful, less customisable, and/or less flexible in comparison to Linux.

585796936[/snapback]

Thats partially what I meant. Customizing windows is painful. The command line in windows is extremely weak.

What markjensen said (about installing programs) is sorta right but mostly doesn't apply to me (I don't use a package manager). When I install a program, I put all the files into one directory heirarchy (depending on the program). When I wish to remove the program, it's as simple as removing the directory. Every file is gone. If I use windows on the other hand, files are often left behind and registry keys don't get deleted. Windows programs also like to scatter files around. Some in program files, others in the windows directory, and maybe other files in random places. Not good. In linux (or any other unix(-like) system), there's a very specific order to things. Program binaries in bin, system binaries in sbin, configuration files in etc, data in shared, changing data in var, libraries in lib and include files in include.

Another thing about linux is that every program on the system is available from the command line. That takes me two (very close) click to get to and then I can do just about anything.

In the end, I guess it boils down to the fact that I'm used linux. Linux makes sense to me, windows doesn't.

EDIT: To the guys that say that linux isn't/shouldn't be used in an mission-critical application, I agree. But then again, windows also isn't used. That area is and will continue to be dominated by AIX and Solaris. Both OS'es combined with their respecive architectures (POWER and SPARC) are mature and very reliable.

Edited by MrA
Grand Master

Miuku.

Posted
Posted
That area is and will continue to be dominated by AIX and Solaris.? Both OS'es combined with their respecive architectures (POWER and SPARC) are mature and very reliable.

585799393[/snapback]

Having used and administered Solaris (SunOS back then really) for a good 15 odd years, I have to say..

I'd rather use Linux (and mostly do) on most of my servers nowadays than I would use Solaris. The.. stability of SunOS is a concept I wouldn't want to discuss in any greater lengths, nor the quality of some of the software I have to deal with on a daily basis. :angry::

Mentor

darkz

Posted
Posted

I'm on windows rite now. That's because I need a bunch of windows apps for my work. The only thing I really miss from GNU/Linux is a good, powerful terminal. I really like the skining apps on windows etc, but I think that I will just buy a MAC :ninja:

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • GEEKOM kicks off Prime Day Sale with discounts up to 30% on Intel and AMD mini PCs

      By Steven P. · Posted

      GEEKOM kicks off Prime Day Sale with discounts up to 30% on Intel and AMD mini PCs by Steven Parker GEEKOM has kicked off its Prime Day Sale letting you save up to 30% on mini PCs in every price class. Below we are sharing a few highlights from the A series of AMD mini PCs, along with an Intel variant with pretty beefy specs. We start off with the very affordable GEEKOM A5 in the AMD Ryzen 5 7430U, 16GB RAM, and 512GB NVMe SSD configuration, with some of its highlighted specs listed below: Operating System: Windows 11 Pro CPU Model: AMD Ryzen 5 7430U CPU Speed: 3.5 GHz Cache Size: 16 MB Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon Vega 7 Graphics Memory: 16 GB 3200 MT/s DDR4 Copilot+ PC: No SSD: 512 GB Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2 + WiFi 6E I never got the chance to review this variant, but here is how GEEKOM describes it: GEEKOM A5 [Ryzen 5 7430U, 16GB+512GB] for $371 —was $439 (15% off) Next up is the GEEKOM A6 in the AMD Ryzen 7 6800H, 16GB DDR5 RAM, with a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD configuration, with the below highlights: Operating System: Windows 11 Pro CPU Model: AMD Ryzen 7 6800H CPU Speed: 4.7 GHz Cache Size: 16 MB Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon 680M Memory: 16 GB 4800 MT/s DDR5 Copilot+ PC: No SSD: 1 TB Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2 + WiFi 6E I gave the A6 high marks in my dedicated review from just over a year ago; GEEKOM has this to say about this compact Mini PC: GEEKOM A6 [Ryzen 7 6800H, 16GB+1TB] for $524 —was $649 (19% off) Next up is the MAX variant of A-series mini PCs in the Prime Day Sale. The GEEKOM A7 MAX [2026 Edition] powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS with 16GB of DDR5 and a 1TB SSD. Below are some of its more important specifications: Operating System: Windows 11 Pro CPU Model: AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS CPU Speed: 5.2 GHz Cache Size: 24 MB Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon 780M Memory: 16 GB 5600 MT/s DDR5 Copilot+ PC: No SSD: 1 TB Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.2 + WiFi 6E I reviewed this Mini PC a year and a half ago, and praised it for its modern internals like a dedicated NPU and DDR5 memory, as such it is more than capable of keeping up with today's offerings of Mini PC on the market. GEEKOM A7 MAX [Ryzen 9 7940HS, 16GB+1TB] for $594 —was $699 (15% off) Next we have another in the MAX series of A mini PC. The GEEKOM A9 MAX powered by the AMD Ryzen AI HX 470 with 32GB DDR5 and a 2TB SSD. Below are some of its more important specifications: Operating System: Windows 11 Pro CPU Model: AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 470 CPU Speed: 5.4 GHz Cache Size: 24 MB Graphics: Integrated AMD Radeon 890M NPU: 55 TOPS Copilot+ PC: Yes (combined NPU+CPU=86 TOPS) Memory: 32GB 5600 MT/s DDR5 SSD: 2 TB Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4 + WiFi 7 We reviewed this Mini PC last month, also in the 64GB configuration. Be sure to check out both reviews before dropping this kind of money on it, you won't be sorry! I praised it for its excellent NPU (AI) performance and premium all-metal build, as such it is more than capable of keeping up with today's offerings of Mini PC on the market. GEEKOM A9 MAX [Ryzen AI 9 470 HX, 32GB+2TB] for $1,444 —was $1,699 (19.72% off) Last but not least we have the GEEKOM IT13 MAX, which is an Intel configuration featuring the Ultra 9 185H with 16GB DDR5 memory and a 1TB SSD. Below are some of its more important specifications: Operating System: Windows 11 Pro CPU Model: Intel Ultra 9 185H (65W TDP) CPU Speed: 5.1 GHz Cache Size: 24 MB Graphics: Integrated Intel ARC Graphics Copilot+ PC: No Memory: 16GB 5600MT/s DDR5 SSD: 1 TB Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.4 + WiFi 7 I never got a chance to review the IT13 MAX, but I did review the GEEKOM X14 Pro which has comparable specifications if you want to get an idea of the IT13 MAX's capabilities. In any case this is what GEEKOM has to say about this variant: GEEKOM IT13 MAX [Intel U9 185H, 16GB+2TB] for $764 —was $899 (15% off) Check out other US and UK deals too These are just a sample of discounts in GEEKOM's Prime Day Sale, you can check out the entire line up, which include more Intel and AMD mini PCs, discounted at up to 30% off, which was more than the recent Spring Sale they ran earlier this year. You can check out the entire lineup of Prime Day deals on the dedicated GEEKOM store page at Amazon in the following regions: Amazon US GEEKOM Prime Day Sales (up to 30% off) Amazon UK GEEKOM Prime Day Sales (up to 30% off) What's more, all products from GEEKOM receive a 3-year free Warranty from the date you receive the product. If needed, you can RMA or return locally relative to your region (the U.S. has a U.S. warehouse, mainland E.U. has a German warehouse, U.K. has a U.K. warehouse, Australia has an AU warehouse). To recap, here are all of the above mentioned deals, available on Amazon US. GEEKOM A5 [Ryzen 5 7430U, 16GB+512GB] for $371 —was $439 (15% off) GEEKOM A6 [Ryzen 7 6800H, 16GB+1TB] for $524 —was $649 (19% off) GEEKOM A7 MAX [Ryzen 9 7940HS, 16GB+1TB] for $594 —was $699 (15% off) GEEKOM A9 MAX [Ryzen AI 9 470 HX, 32GB+2TB] for $1,444 —was $1,699 (19.72% off) GEEKOM IT13 MAX [Intel U9 185H, 16GB+2TB] for $764 —was $899 (15% off) Please be aware that the above promotional discounts expire on June 26 Between June 23 - 26 it's Prime Day week on Amazon, click here to check out all the deals. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Ubuntu Livepatch arrives on Arm64 to eliminate system reboots for kernel updates

      By BergischNRW · Posted

      Nice to see! Especially now with Arm64 VMs getting more popular and sometimes even cheaper than traditional x86 ones in datacenters.
    • Politically funny images of the World

      By +Nik Louch · Posted

      I never said they weren’t, I said I don’t care. Do keep up…
    • TerraMaster F2-425 Pro review: a low-powered Intel NAS that ships with AI (OpenClaw)

      By Steven P. · Posted

      TerraMaster F2-425 Pro review: a low-powered Intel NAS that ships with AI (OpenClaw) by Steven Parker It has been a while since I reviewed a TerraMaster NAS, but the company reached out to me asking if I was willing to test the F4-425 Pro, which goes on sale today. It is an upgrade on the F4-425 Plus, which I reviewed back in October 2025 What you need to know is that it basically follows the design principles of the four-bay F4-425 series, with its all-metal exterior. Here are the most important specifications: TerraMaster F4-425 Pro CPU Intel Core N350 (8x E Cores/Threads, Max burst up to 3.9 GHz) Intel Core N305 (4x E Cores/Threads, Max burst up to 3.8 GHz) TDP: 7W / 9W (Base) Graphics Intel UHD Graphics 32 EUs (1.35 GHz) Intel UHD Graphics 24 EUs (1.25 GHz) Memory 1x slot 16 GB DDR5 4800MT/s non ECC SODIMM (Max 32 GB) 1x slot 8 GB DDR5 4800MT/s non ECC SODIMM (Max 32 GB) Disk Capacity 120 TB (30 TB x 4) Supported RAID Types TRAID, TRAID +, RAID0, RAID1, RAID5, RAID 6, RAID 10 Network 2x RJ-45 5 GbE Internal storage 3x M.2 2280 NVMe Slot (PCIe 3.0 x1) Bootloader 2Gbit 256 GB NAND Flash card (MX30LF2G28AD) USB port (internal) USB Ports 1x Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) 3x Type-A 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) HDMI 1x (HDMI) Hardware Transcoding Engine H.264, H.265, MPEG-4, VC-1 Maximum resolution: 4K (4096 x 2160); Maximum FPS: 60 Size (H/W/D) 219 x 181 x 150 mm Weight 2.9 kg System Fan 150 x181 x 219 mm Power 90W, 100V - 240V AC, 50/60 Hz, Single frequency Power consumption (HDDs) 45W (4x 4TB ST4000VN008 in read/write state) 14W (4x 4TB ST4000VN008 in hibernation) Noise Level: 20.9 dB(A) Using 4 SATA HDDs/SSDs in standby mode; Test environment noise: 17.3dB(A); Test distance: 1m Warranty 2 Years OS TOS 7.0.0706 (Beta) MSRP £639.99, $699.99, €739.99 / £739.99, $799.99, €839.99 As you can see above, there are two variants of the F4-425 Pro releasing today. The lesser variant has the slightly weaker N305 CPU and iGP, and 8 GB less RAM, although it also costs $100 less than the top variant we are testing today. In addition, these new F4-425 Pros are shipped with the as-yet-unreleased TOS 7 beta. So what is TOS 7 exactly? During the device initialization, you are warned not to use it in a production environment, which we'll get into later. My contact told me that TOS 7 exits beta today, June 23. The clear difference with the F4-425 Plus is that it contains the more powerful N350 Intel CPU released in the first quarter of 2025, with support for DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.1, LPDDR5 (4800), DDR5 and DDR4, and a max TDP of just 7W. It also supports AV1 decoding, as well as H.264, VP8, VP9, H.265 (8 bit), and H.265 (10 bit). The different capabilities in the Alder Lake-N (and Twin Lake) series are listed below. Processor E-cores L3-cache Turbo clock GPU GPU-clock TDP Intel N355 8 6 MB 3.9 GHz 32 EUs 1.35 GHz 9 W Intel Core 3 N350 3.9 GHz 1.35 GHz 7 W Intel Core i3-N305 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 9 W Intel Core i3-N300 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz Intel N250 4 3.8 GHz 1.25 GHz 6 W Intel Processor N200 3.7 GHz 0.75 GHz Intel N150 3.6 GHz 24 EUs 1 GHz Intel N97 1.2 GHz 12 W Intel Processor N100 3.4 GHz 0.75 GHz 6 W The CPU is part of the Alder Lake-N series that sits just below the top N355 offering, albeit with an impressive TDP (less than the N355 and N305) for the features it offers. It is designed for low- powered systems and entry-level laptops. As before, we are seeing another NAS with an acceptable, if not great, amount of RAM. It should be noted that the F4-425 Pro only has one SODIMM slot, so if you are planning to upgrade the already 16GB included in this NAS, it will have to be on one module of Single Rank DDR5. As a reminder, up until a couple of years ago, it was commonplace to only get 2 or 4GB max on a flagship Synology or QNAP home NAS. Ever since the likes of TerraMaster and more have entered the market with ample RAM sizes included in their NAS offerings, it has gone a long way in forcing the hands of the traditional makers to up their game a bit. Before we dive in, you can view the different SKUs released so far since the 2025 series launched for Home and SMB users, with the most important specifications listed along with the MSRP listed below: SKU CPU Cores Memory Link Price F2-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $249.99 F4-425 Intel N5095 4 4 GB DDR4 2.5 GbE x1 $369.99 F2-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $399.99 F4-425 Plus Intel Core N150 4 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $569.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N305 8 8 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $699.99 F4-425 Pro Intel Core N350 8 16 GB DDR5 5 GbE x 2 $799.99 The F2 in the product name means two 3.5-inch HDD bays, where F4 is four 2.5-inch bays. First impressions Like with the F8 SSD Plus packaging, the F4-425 Pro is using the upgraded box materials, which certainly look better than a plain cream colored box with TERRAMASTER stamped on the sides. The box gives off a premium feel and certainly adds a positive vibe to first impressions. In the box F4-425 Pro TNAS device Power adapter LAN cable (CAT 6) Quick guide [full online guide] Limited warranty notice Screws (for HDD bays) Stickers 2x rubber feet (spares) Design As has become kind of common with TerraMaster, certainly in the last three years, the 2025 F2- and F4-series have received a makeover that really adds to the premium feel of the NAS. Gone are the plastic shells, now replaced with an aluminum outer shell, with the front and back retaining the textured black plastic we saw on the 2024 models. Some key differences from the 2024 series include placing the power button back on the front, along with the addition of a Type A USB port. It's not much bigger or heavier either; in fact, it weighs 500 grams less than the F4-424 Pro. It's slightly shorter in height and depth (length), but only by a few millimeters. The front and back do retain a similar style to the 2024 series. On the front, you just have your four bays along with LED indicators for the HDDs and power. The welcomed change is having a USB port on the front for quick access, should you need to back up a USB drive, for example. Around the back, from top to bottom, you have a reset pin hole, an HDMI port, two 5 GbE Ethernet ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) Type A ports with a Type-C port below them, and a connector for the barrel port power source. Again, there's no Kensington Security Slot present, which is a bit of a shame considering it's a data storage device. Left side Right side On the left and right of the F4-425 Plus, it is completely smooth aluminum with a TERRAMASTER logo printed on both sides. On the bottom, there are some holes to assist ventilation. Unlike with the F4-425 Plus, the rubber feet did come unstuck during the teardown, which was also an issue on the 2023 series. It seems like other customers have lodged complaints about them, as TerraMaster now includes two spare rubber feet in the box, in case any of the preinstalled ones are lost; however, this seems more like a papering over the cracks solution rather than actually fixing the issue with better quality rubber stand-offs. There are also four screws that must be removed in order to access the internals. Teardown Upon removing the four screws, you can slide the device out of its shell to reveal the three NVMe M.2 slots (PCIe 3.0 X1) and single SODIMM slot connector, which is populated with a single 16GB DDR5 4800MT/s module. I added a couple of MP44Q M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSDs (2 x 4TB) that can be availed on Amazon for $492.99 that TEAMGROUP supplied us with, along with a 250GB 970 Evo Plus that my colleague Chris White sent me by accident and let me keep a few years ago. As I have said in previous reviews, TerraMaster support staff actually encourage installing whatever you want on their devices, and happily, the USB port for the bootloader is now easily accessible should you want to use it for your own flavor of NAS OS, such as TrueNAS, Unraid, or maybe Xpenology. Yes, because TerraMaster has now switched to a 256 GB NAND Flash card (3rd photo above) for the TOS bootloader. This is also replaceable, but you can also simply add a USB bootloader, access the BIOS, and tell the F4-425 Pro to boot from that instead of the Flash card. Unlike earlier iterations of TerraMaster NAS, you don't have to tear this down any further than the four screws on the outer shell in order to be able to access and manage the memory, NVMe slots, and USB bootloader. However, if you need to access the NAND Flash card or CMOS battery, then eight more screws (four on each side) need to be removed in order to take off the rear panel with the 120mm fan, and then the motherboard can be lifted off and removed from the SATA connector PCB. There's also no risk of threading the screw holes, because the four that hold the shell in place are metal on metal, while the screws that hold the rear panel on do screw into plastic. Either way, like last time when I reviewed the F4-425 plus, I was just happier to see larger screws being used. Overall, it follows some great improvements in build quality from the 2024 series and earlier. Setup BIOS The F4-425 Pro includes an Aptio BIOS from American Megatrends [1, 2], and you can setup pretty much everything here including the boot order, which is locked to the UEFI OS, however above that choice you can enable or disable booting to the USB bootloader so this would still allow you to switch to a USB stick with an alternative bootloader and boot from it, or disable it to instead always start from the first disk with an OS installed on it. Initial Setup Setup is roughly the same as the F4-425 Plus, along with the new TOS 7 setup dialogs, so there will be no surprises here. Upon connecting to the LAN and booting up, the F4-425 Pro can be reached by navigating to http://tnas.local. If that doesn't work, you can use the local address assigned via DHCP, which you can find using the TNAS PC desktop application, which is essentially a TerraMaster NAS finder. The setup process is pretty straightforward, through a wizard, and in full below: TOS 7 Initialization As you can see, TOS 7 received a new coat of paint, and the initialization requires fewer interactions. Happily, TOS no longer decides to throw all disks into the same Storage Pool; 2.5-inch HDDs are allocated into Storage Pool 1. This is because two of the HDDs are allocated to hold system files. Previously (with TOS 5 and 6), if you pre-installed HDDs and SSDs, they were all placed into Storage Pool 1, even if you did not select the SSDs for inclusion during the onboarding. TOS 7 Setup On first boot, there is a tutorial and some steps to take to harden the TNAS (or not), which includes an immediate update from TOS 7.0.0616 to 7.0.0706, of which the changelog screenshot is also included in the above gallery. It must be noted that the Security Advisor still contains (in my opinion) a pretty major bug in that if you enable SPC and then do the required rebooting, the Security Advisor still says that SPC is disabled. TerraMaster provided the following statement about it: It is disappointing that TOS 7 has been in beta since December, and this OOBE issue is still there. Shutdown option has moved Instead of a Taskbar option to manage the NAS, all of these options have been moved to the Control Panel, initially I did not see it and my contact had to show me how to power off the F4-425 Pro. To logout, reboot or power off you can find those controls at the top right of the Control Panel. It is also possible to power off through the TNAS mobile app beta. Storage setup Above, you can see the steps I took to create the Storage Pools and Volumes. I made a second Storage Pool using TRAID on two 4TB MP44Q SSDs (which, in this instance, is similar to RAID 5), and finally, I added the 250GB 970 Evo Plus drive as Hyper Cache on Storage Pool 1 in Balanced mode. Registering If you decide not to lock down the F4-425 Pro in Security Isolation Mode (blocking all external connections), then you could set up a TNAS device ID through the Remote Access setting in the Control Panel (which must be unique). This works in combination with an online TerraMaster account. TOS 7 TNAS Online Creating a TerraMaster account and linking the device online activates the warranty when you provide proof of purchase and the serial number, but it also gives you access through the TNAS mobile app, which allows you to complete certain operationsб including powering off and restarting the NAS remotely. A TNAS mobile update is required to gain access through TOS 7, and this is provided on the TerraMaster website, as it is not yet on Google Play. The app is evolving all the time and has made leaps and bounds since I first started reviewing TerraMaster devices almost three years ago. It is not quite there yet if you are comparing the likes of Synology, which, sadly, a lot of users online do all the time. OpenClaw setup One of the main selling points of the new F4-425 Pro is the inclusion of OpenClaw, with TerraMaster claiming that it is "powered by the world's first AI-native TOS 7 OS, supporting local-first smart workflows and independent data control." However, I immediately ran into problems trying to enable OpenClaw. After waiting 20 minutes at the "Enabling" message of the OpenClaw app following installation, I decided to do some searching online and discovered that it couldn't complete the installation process due to SPC being enabled, which is something TOS 7 immediately recommends to be enabled on first boot. SPC for NAS (TOS 7) is basically the same principle as UAC in Windows; it blocks executables from being launched by non-Super Users. After reaching out to my contact about these issues, I received the following response: Anyway, this only became clear when I closed the OpenClaw app screen and clicked on the OpenClaw icon in the taskbar; that is when I saw the message about disabling SPC. I think, due to the fact that this is a requirement, this should be a prompt during the installation process, not when closing the App Market and then trying to launch OpenClaw. There's also no 'Getting started' guide for people like me who have never used OpenClaw. I tried to add an LLM and discovered the tutorial led nowhere. That's when I started looking around the official TerraMaster forums, and I found a guide that helpfully explains that you won't get anywhere with OpenClaw unless you have a paid plan, which is disappointing because I imagined there would be an option to use a local LLM as I do in SubtitleEdit with Whisper-XXL. In addition, with the marketing imagery on the official site, it says that the OpenClaw feature is "all processed 100% locally for absolute privacy." which led me to believe that I could install a local LLM, not one that required paid tokens. In any case, TerraMaster does not provide guidance for this new feature, which was also a selling point of the F4-425 Pro! My contact also provided clarification about the above points I raised with TerraMaster Since it is not in the scope of the review to add paid services, I'll leave that to the people who are more qualified with OpenClaw. F4-425 Pro Surveillance App TOS also comes with a Surveillance app, which is not installed by default; it can be found in the App Market recommended section. In addition, after installing, it doesn't drop a shortcut on the Desktop or top taskbar, but you can "Send to Desktop" from the App Market listing for the app for a quick way to open it. Adding my Reolink POE doorbell camera was painless. TerraMaster doesn't appear to have a repository of preconfigured cameras; instead, the camera must be added using ONVIF or RTSP. No mobile Surveillance app TerraMaster still doesn't have a dedicated Surveillance app, although from searching online, Surveillance can be used and managed through the TNAS mobile app. I tried this with the updated TNAS mobile app beta in combination with TOS 7 and got a message that Surveillance was "Only accessible through web browser," so I reckon this must be limited to the stable versions of TOS 6 and the mobile app. More quirks In addition, whenever I minimized the Live View window in the browser Surveillance app, the feed appeared to switch to the Low-bandwidth stream, and there was no way to get the High-quality stream back. To get the High-quality stream back, I had to close Live View and then reopen it. Benchmarking A pretty cool feature of the TOS 7 is that it allows you to install directly to the NVMe M.2 SSD. In order to do that, you would have to leave out any HDDs during initialization, and even then, the system partitions are always written to two HDDs when they are eventually added. With three NVMe slots, this also gives an interesting scenario where you could build a TRAID storage Pool for installing all your apps and Docker on, and keep the third for SSD cache on the HDD pool. Limitless options! SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 A CrystalDiskMark test on a mapped network drive from within a Windows 11 25H2 PC (image above) connected over a 5 GbE hub was well within acceptable ranges. Although the read result on SATA was a little less than with the F4-425 Plus, for some reason, while writes were generally better. SATA PCIe 3.0 X1 I also ran the NAS Performance tester, which tests the link speed performance. As you can see, it pretty much maxes out the 5GbE connection. Of course, you can also opt to bond the two 5 GbE connections for a bit more umph, but I didn't do that. TOS 7, which, as of testing, is still in Beta, comes with an App Center that has a bunch of handy programs you can install right off the bat, such as Emby, Plex, Docker, as well as in-house Backup and Surveillance solutions. As you can imagine, any media streaming services you would want to host off the F4-425 Pro will work great, thanks to the Intel Core N350 CPU and its 16 GB of DDR5 memory. Accessing from mobile is only possible if Security Isolation Mode is disabled, which can put your NAS at risk from external sources, so there was no way to access it from the TNAS Mobile app. It's also quiet. I had this sat next to my computer on my work desk for the past week, and I did wonder if the noise I was accustomed to with NAS devices would annoy me, but all I could hear was a soft whirring of the rear fan (which was a little annoying) when the disks were not actively copying or reading data. Conclusion So what have I learned? Unfortunately, this release raises a few important questions and concerns that I feel haven't been adequately addressed. What I didn't like Our variant shipped with TOS 7 beta, and it's advised not to use it in a production environment. I feel that's a bit limiting on an $800 device. The mobile app is also still in beta and does not support some of the first-party apps, like Surveillance, and it still has quite a few bugs. I am a bit confused about the OpenClaw marketing along with the F4-425 Pro. I feel like that if it's going to be a main selling point, then offer official guidance on how to get started with it. TerraMaster recommends enabling SPC, but then markets the NAS for use with OpenClaw, which requires disabling SPC to be able to use it, opening up genuine security concerns for the NAS; and that's before you get into the security concerns of OpenClaw itself. Of course, the above issues won't be a problem if you decide to install something else on it, or even go back to the stable TOS 6. I wish TerraMaster had just given TOS 7 as opt-in rather than shipping with it. TOS 7 has been available as a preview since December 2025 (so well before my last TerraMaster review), and according to a thread on Reddit where a user shared a screenshot from the TerraMaster Facebook page, it is scheduled to launch today, June 23, but there's nothing about that in the TerraMaster news blog. My contact confirmed over email that TOS 7 exits beta today. The rubber feet also deserve a mention as they continue to be a problem, with them coming unstuck the moment you shift the F4-425 Pro anywhere on your desk. What I liked What it comes down to, though, aside from what I already mentioned, you are still getting a quality, affordable device here, so recommending it will depend on the individual's use case. If you're just looking for a relatively small NAS device to manage virtual machines on, backup your files, and take care of your home theater streaming, then it is a great device that will certainly futureproof you for some time. It provides good performance, takes up little space, and is, on the whole, very quiet. Four bays afford proper redundancy using TRAID or RAID 5, and you can even expand on storage capacity by adding the 2-bay D5, or 4-bay D8 Hybrid DAS over a USB 3.2 (10Gbps) link. Considering the 2024 releases were more about power, with the likes of an Intel Core i5-1235U high-end laptop CPU under the hood, I asked my contact last time if we could expect more of the same in higher-end models and was told: It makes a lot of sense to use Intel's N350 chip inside a NAS; it is more than capable of doing what the F4-425 Pro is intended for, media streaming and backup. The only downside is still the clear lack of community and even staff support on the official forums. In the past, I have had topics go unanswered for days, or there would be generic-type "we've noted this and passed it onto our developer team" type responses. Along with the other things I mentioned, it all ends up costing it a couple of points. If you are comfortable with the command line, Docker, and setting up TrueNAS or Unraid, you'll be fine. You can do great things with this hardware. In TOS, the apps are a bit lacking, and things don't always work as expected.\ AI NAS?! What has become clear to me this year is that we are going to start seeing all kinds of "AI NAS" come to market, and while that might be good for us consumers, be diligent and research these claims. Although the F4-425 Pro technically comes with AI, it is really using a cloud service that is externally sourced off-device through the third party OpenClaw app. My colleague did review a newcomer to the NAS space earlier this year, and it includes a local AI assistant inside the Zettlab D4 NAS, and they do not even use AI in the product name, check out Chris' review here. Where to buy and a discount coupon However, it does not change the fact that this is truly a great entry-level home media-class NAS that you can buy right now. TerraMaster is having a 20% off launch discount, plus you can also still apply our unique 10% off coupon on checkout, which only works on the official website. So here is a breakdown of the pricing that is only valid on the official TerraMaster website. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $575.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = $503.99 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £525.59 TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) + 20% discount + 10% coupon = £460.79 Use NEOWIN coupon code during checkout for 10% discount Over on Amazon US and UK, the F4-425 Pro also gets a 20% launch discount, but here, the above 10% coupon cannot be applied. TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for $639.99 at Amazon US (was $799.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for $559.99 at Amazon US (was $699.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N350) for £583.99 at Amazon UK (was £729.99) TerraMaster F4-425 Pro (N305) for £511.99 at Amazon UK (was £639.99) As an Amazon Associate, when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.
    • Politically funny images of the World

      By PsYcHoKiLLa · Posted

  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      nates earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Week One Done
      Almohandis earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Rookie
      dorf went up a rank
      Rookie
    • First Post
      mike_rumble earned a badge
      First Post
    • Dedicated
      tuben earned a badge
      Dedicated

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      487
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      204
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      94
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      91
    5. 5
      neufuse
      71
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!