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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    macOS

    Score9.4 out of 10
    N/AmacOS is the graphical operating system for Apple desktop devices.N/A

    DiskStation

    Score8.8 out of 10
    N/ADiskStation is a line of network-attached storage (NAS) solutions from Synology headquartered in Taiwan.N/A
    Pricing
    macOSDiskStation
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    macOSDiskStation
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Features
    macOSDiskStation
    Operating System
    Comparison of Operating System features of macOS and Synology DiskStation
    Feature
    macOS
    9.5
    4 Ratings
    8% above category average
    Synology DiskStation
    -
    Ratings
    File Management9.04 Ratings00 Ratings
    Software Application Management9.84 Ratings00 Ratings
    System Update Frequency9.84 Ratings00 Ratings
    Operating System Security9.54 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    macOSDiskStation
    Small Businesses
    CentOS Linux
    Score8.9 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM AIX
    Score9.4 out of 10
    FreeNAS
    Score5.4 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
    Score9.1 out of 10
    FreeNAS
    Score5.4 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    macOSDiskStation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    9.1
    (8 ratings)
    9.2
    (30 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Usability
    9.4
    (7 ratings)
    9.1
    (9 ratings)
    Availability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.7
    (7 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    macOSDiskStation
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Apple
    Macs, macOS, and the appropriate Mac applications really shine in ease of use. Specifically, the system's media-handling features are excellent. The developer frameworks (libraries) are excellent and provide easy programmatic access to the operating system's features. macOS is very stable and is built on a solid foundation of a Unix kernel. The Swift programming language is very approachable, and macOS supports many scripting and programming languages, opening up a wide variety of coding libraries.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    The Synology DiskStation is well suited as a NAS solution, easy enough to mirror a Windows file server shares setup. Access to the Hyperbackup utility eliminates the need to purchase a tape backup solution. A portable USB drive can be used as the initial backup target. For air gap purposes can connect Hyperbackup to the various cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, GCP to copy backup data there. Utilizing it as a backup solution has also been great, instead of purchasing a tape solution, tapes and an offsite tape repository. Active Backup for Business is another excellent backup utility for physical servers, VMWare virtual machines, etc. Restoring files is fairly intuitive. Until Synology introduced the dual controller setup, using it as a SAN was less appropriate as there was occasional downtime when the controller had an issue but this was less important for the scenarios we were using it for. It would be more of a concern if we had used it for things that require more robust uptime requirements. Overall we are happy with the features of the Synology DiskStation.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Apple
    • Unified hardware and software drivers
    • Power users can have full access if needed
    • Upgrade cycles are so easy with OS transfer
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    • Synology DiskStation offers lots of options for creating links to share files or request that some uploads files. It makes it really easy to just share a link that can have an expiration or a set number of times it is accessed.
    • We always had enough storage on our Synology DiskStation, we never had to worry about something being too big to upload or share.
    • Love how you can create folders that are shared and also have some that are private. This makes it so easy to have shared collaborations with coworkers or clients, but also allows you to have a private place to save things that only you need.
    Incentivized
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    Cons
    Apple
    • upfront costs to getting the most benefit from macOS requires you to purchase a Macbook...this is expensive
    • it's windows snapping function just isn't as good as Windows OS
    • as good as the M chips are, gaming just isn't a big strong suit
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    • While BTRFS is a more advanced file system than ext4, it also is in a perpetual state of development, with many features not fully functional and a plethora of bugs. Synology has managed to overcome many of these limitations by placing BTRFS on top of a LVM, but there are much better file systems that Synology could have used, such as OpenZFS.
    • DSM's built-in backup software, HyperBackup, while robust, oftentimes runs into issues. Specifically, backups can be working fine for months or years, and then suddenly the backups will fail. Sometimes these failures can be resolved, but oftentimes the backups need to be completely restarted. Fortunately, even when the backup fails, the existing backups are still accessible, it is just that new backups can not be performed.
    • The underlying Linux OS provides significant benefits, but also adds a fair amount of complexity. Most of that complexity is wonderfully hidden by the DSM interface, but when certain problems arise, delving into the Linux command line is not out of the question.
    • Perhaps the biggest issue with Synology DiskStation is Synology's support. The issue isn't that the support is bad, but it can be frustratingly slow when dealing with a major issue. Synology does have a very active community that is always willing to help, but nothing beats first-party support.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Apple
    Its simply the best operating system
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    As long as Synology give us support for our hard drivers we will not change. I know Synology has now forced their hands to buy their own hard drivers and their new line of products. But if we still have support for old hard drivers from other manufacturers then we will still use Synology Nas. Otherwise we change manufacturers
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    Usability
    Apple
    I'm sure I'm biased. I've been using a Mac for 30+ yrs. I am significantly more productive on a Mac than on any other platform. It comes down to some personal preference and familiarity, but I just think the interface is more intuitive and streamlined
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    Synology
    The Synology DiskStation is easy to set up and manage. The interface is clean and features are well documented. These units are reliable and can be set up to do scheduled integrity checks so failures can be mitigated before they halt business operations. The available packages for expanded roles makes these devices versatile.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Apple
    macOS tends to be very reliable, and Apple distributes updates as needed to patch known vulnerabilities or issues. It is very seldom that a macOS-based system is unavailable, and if that happens, the cloud-based storage and identity management support make it very easy to slot in a loaner machine while the user's primary machine is repaired.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    No answers on this topic
    Performance
    Apple
    The Apple Silicon hardware allows macOS to perform very well, with rapid response. Local processing for Apple Intelligence-related items is quite fast, and the response is impressively complete. Our experience with integrations to other enterprise systems is that the other system is usually the bottleneck in the process, rather than macOS.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Apple
    No answers on this topic
    Synology
    Unfortunately, the one time I've had to reach out to DiskStation support, it did not go well. My NAS appliance wasn't appearing on the network, and no matter what the support team tried, they could not get it back online. Instead of offering to send me a new unit, they told me to go buy a new one - obviously, this was a disappointing response and not very eco-friendly either! Fortunately, through some internet research of my own, and some ingenuity, I figured out I could restore my NAS to factory settings by removing all the drives and resetting. Only then did I realize I had a bad disk. I had to experiment for a while to figure out which one it was. Once I had done that, though, I was able to get the latest DiskStation loaded back on, no thanks to the DiskStation support crew. If notifications were rock solid, I suspect I would have caught the bad disk before it because an OS problem, but I never received a bad-disk notification.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Apple
    Just that simplicity of day to day activities and management. It's basically zero hassle with the ability to scale and power up if needed
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    Synology DiskStation packs a punch with the latest and greatest feature set which goes above and beyond many other vendors. It allows for a turn-key solution to cover almost every use case in the SMB market leaving other vendors behind.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Apple
    macOS is very easily deployed with central MDM/DDM management systems. There are several of these available to select, depending on the amount and type of deployment needed. We use Jamf Pro to support a "zero touch" deployment model, which makes it almost as easy to deploy 100 endpoints as 10 (other than delivery and unboxing).
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Apple
    • Apple supports their hardware longer than most manufacturers, which is good.
    • Apple's hardware is more expensive than similar equipment competition, which is bad but offset somewhat by its longevity.
    • Apple in an Apple world works great.
    • Apple in a Windows world has some work to do to get things talking.
    Incentivized
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    Synology
    • Minimal investment in the hardware, big return on productivity
    • Streamlined IT needs, we no longer have to hire our IT vendor to assist us as regularly as we did when we were running servers
    • Productivity on the road through web access has increased productivity and billable hours for remote employees
    Incentivized
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    ScreenShots