I am not sure what you would gain by using a NAS instead of your main machine. Is it not always on? Is the file transfer causing a slowdown that you want to offload?
Personally, I have 2 main machines in my house. One is my desktop used for gaming and daily use. The other is a file server, bit torrent client, and HTPC. The main reason I did this was the wireless network. I did not have a good way to get ethernet up to my office for my main machine, just Wi-fi. So my solution was to get a router with both Wi-fi and wired ports. My main machine and my roommates' laptops connect via the wifi. The HTPC/server is connected via wire. This gives me full 100Mb bandwidth for bittorrent and file transers to/from the file server, and 802.11g access otherwise which is good enough for gaming and surfing. I used spare parts for the HTPC/fileserver and only had to buy a bigger HD which made it not very costly. And I use TightVNC to remote into the server to control it when I am not sitting in front of the TV. If you don't use your desktop for more than the file serving, I would simply get rid of the monitor/keyboard/mouse and tuck it away in the closet. Load VNC on it and connect to it via your laptop to configure and manage it. -- Brian
