> Rather roll my own Linux thank you.

Most modern NAS have that option. It just doesn’t make that much sense since that would get rid of the (in some cases really good) DSM.

It does if you want more than a storage appliance. I want the option of setting up any linux server software on it if i feel the need. Just a general purpose low power computer.

You should actually look at what's available. You can get a QNAP box with an ARM CPU with lots of drive slots, dual 2.5 gig Ethernet and dual 10 gig SFP+ for like $700, among many more examples. Sure saturating those is gonna eat a ton of cycles and run like shit but... yeah of course it is it's a cheap low power CPU. They suck for the sorts of stuff I wanna do, but this is inherently a market segment that involves compromise and that is probably perfect for some people.

I agree I'd much rather roll my own system (and that's what I did) and I would personally never buy one of those, but it's simply not right to say there are no options available if you want a low power server off the shelf. Some of them are even decent if you wanna pay for it.