so i have a Synology and it was a bad experience because:

1. they will happily sell small ones where the hardware just isn't up to running the current bloated version of the OS

(specifically I got a DS216 then discovered this new device was below the *stated* reqs)

2. the BIOS is DRMed so you can't just put Debian on it or something sensible.

i have cut down enough of the software, including forcibly deleting bloated shit and making it impossible to auto-reinstall it, that it can serve SMB without running out of CPU

if this thing blows up or catches fire I'll probably get an old HP Microserver (near-silent, reputedly) and run a proper OS on it

I got a DS1019+ (in 2019) to replace my Drobo 5N. It's Just Worked since, but I'm not doing anything very complicated with it.

Looks like the closest current model is the DS1522+ (although that's 2022 hardware).

I like that the storage is just a pile of Linux and can be recovered on any PC.

I tried using it as a general Linux server, it's doable but the OS is a bit too opinionated to make that pleasant. Now it's just NFS mounted to a separate Debian box, as well as CIFS shares.