I'm running FreeNAS because I need a lot of flexibility running SABNZBD w/ Headphones, CP, Mylar, and Sickrage, Plex, Kodi, Murmur, owncloud, security camera, home automation, 16TB, etc etc but I'd not suggest it if you are new to Linux/Unix. I almost pulled my hair out getting all of that to work because jails and permissions are a bitch to work out. That being said, Synology is essentially the same without all of the hassle (albeit much more $$) and without hardware options (no Xeon etc). I would recommend that if you don't need anything really complex but still want some basic features like Plex (don't expect 1080p transcoding on Synology) or Kodi, Synology would be fine. If you don't need any advanced features then I don't think it matters what you get. Drobo should be fine.