QNAP QSW-1105-5T review

The QSW-1105-5T is a five-port unmanaged switch. Every port runs at 2.5GbE. The listed standards also include 100BASE-T and 1000BASE-T, so older gigabit devices can plug into the same box. It is a simple device for upgrading a few machines from gigabit to 2.5GbE.

There's no PoE, no management interface and no ports beyond the five 2.5GbE ones listed. It does one job and leaves the rest out.

All five ports run at 2.5GbE. You do not have to choose which devices get the faster ports, because there are no slower ones. A NAS, a workstation, a hypervisor host and a 2.5GbE access point can all sit at full port speed together.

QNAP lists a switching capacity of 25Gbps and a non-blocking throughput of 12.5Gbps. Five ports at 2.5Gbps full duplex come to 25Gbps in total, which matches the first figure. The MAC address table holds 16K entries. The switch also supports 9K jumbo frames, which matters if you have set a larger frame size on a storage network.

The ceiling is 2.5GbE. The specs list no 10GbE or SFP+ port, so this switch does not suit a network that needs faster links between devices.

QNAP lists this model as unmanaged. You plug cables in and it works. Owners praise that plug-and-play behaviour.

That also sets the limits. Owner complaints include the restrictions of an unmanaged switch. With no management listed, this is not the switch for anyone who wants to separate traffic into VLANs or monitor ports. A homelab that already runs segmented networks will need a managed model for that part of the network.

The switch is fanless. Owners praise it for being quiet, and one buyer says it does not heat up particularly. Together with the fanless spec, that makes it a reasonable fit for a desk, a living room or a bedroom cupboard where fan noise would be a nuisance.

The spec sheet gives no power draw figure, so there is no efficiency number to quote here.

Five ports is enough for a small cluster of devices. It will fill up quickly in a busy homelab. The specs list no separate uplink ports, so any expansion means using one of the five ports to connect another switch.

There is no PoE. The specs state that this is not a PoE switch. Access points, cameras and phones that need PoE will need a separate injector or a different switch.

Owners rate it as the cheapest route into multi-gigabit networking, and they also complain about the cost per 2.5GbE port. Both themes appear in owner feedback, so check the cost per port against your own needs before you buy.

QNAP's own listing gives a 2-year warranty. Treat the manufacturer's two years as the safe number and check the terms with your retailer before you buy.

This switch suits a buyer with a handful of 2.5GbE devices who wants quiet, fanless operation and no configuration. It suits a NAS-to-workstation link or a small desk network. Anyone who needs VLANs, PoE, SFP+ uplinks or more than five ports should look at other models.