HP MediaSmart Server EX490 review

Another neat feature is the ability to publish your photographs directly to Flickr, Facebook, Picasa Web Albums and HP’s Snapfish service from within the MediaSmart interface. It’s a rudimentary browser-based wizard, but it gets the job done with minimal fuss.

Considering this is at bottom a Windows appliance, HP has even achieved an impressive degree of Mac compatibility: the MediaSmart server can serve files and music to OS X clients and can even be used as a Time Machine backup device.

Add in a user-defined sleep schedule and remote hardware monitoring and the EX490 is without a doubt the most persuasive home server we’ve seen. But we do have two reservations.

The first is with HP’s notion of the home server acting as a media hub. There’s nothing wrong with the idea in principle, and if you already have a front-room PC or a selection of receivers then the MediaSmart EX490 could be the jigsaw piece that completes the puzzle.

But the marriage of server and media features is imperfect because, in accordance with Microsoft’s Home Server specifications, the EX490 has no video or audio connectors of its own. To get the full benefit you'll need the sort of additional devices described above. Despite the name, what comes in the box is only half of a media system.

The second is the price. While home servers remain a niche product we can’t expect stunning economies of scale in this market; but now that a 1TB NAS box can be had for £85 exc VAT, you'll have to be quite firmly wedded to the niceties of Windows Home Server to pay over £400 for an appliance of the same capacity.

So while the MediaSmart EX490 gets a definite thumbs up, we suggest you take stock of your needs – and the devices on your home network – before taking the plunge. For basic home server duties a cheaper, simpler option, such as the Tranquil T2, may work just as well. But if the sophistications of the EX490 fit your home and your budget then go for it: it’s a capable and excellently designed little server.

Author: Darien Graham-Smith