Best NAS for Beginners UK 2026: Easy Picks That Work

Three sensible starting points

These are genuinely different tiers, not the same box with a different sticker.

Which should you pick

Why we steer beginners away from ARM boxes

The UGREEN NASync DH2300 and QNAP TS-233 both use ARM chips (Rockchip and Cortex-A55 respectively) with modest RAM and no hardware transcoding. They're cheap and they do work, but they're built for basic file storage and light backup duties, not for running Plex, Docker containers, or anything that leans on the CPU. If your plans are strictly 'store some files and back up a laptop', an ARM box is fine and the DH2300 at around £176.92 (or the bundle at £195.91) is a legitimate budget route.

For most beginners, though, the frustration comes later: you get a NAS, love it, then want to stream a film to a phone on mobile data and the file needs transcoding. An ARM box without hardware transcode support will either fail outright or grind through it in software at the cost of everything else running slowly. Spending a bit more upfront on an Intel N100 or Celeron-based box avoids that entire class of disappointment, and it's a difference you'll actually notice within the first month of ownership, not an abstract spec on a page.

One honest caveat