What Techflaws said are primarily the reasons one would use these features. Keep in mind these features could perform worse or might be buggy in some way so be sure to check the forums of the manufacturer and model you’re interested in. I doubt for example that these units would have usb3 support (in most cases). They may even only work with certain enclosures or brands with specific feature sets. My experience with these features is very limited as I’ve only used it in a pinch for a cheap all in one inkjet at a small two person office (ethernet port wasn’t functional on the HP inkjet).
I have two WDTV SMP’s two Roku 3’s and a couple XBMC devices on my two main TV’s. Workgroup setting and device name along with a static IP will go a long way to make sure things are accessible most of the time. Any change on your network like a slight breeze will sometimes cause the device to report that the previous folders or shares are moved which require a refresh. You can usually set static IP’s via DHCP with a decent router and firmware options. In my case this is what I’ve done so the router takes each device by mac address and assigns it a static IP (reserved IP in some firmwares). This dumbs down the process another step especially with wired connections as you don’t have to touch a thing just like DHCP but static in this case. If you’re in an area where you have frequent power outages or brownouts (surges and voltage spikes daily due to my area not to mention lightning strikes) will make your life easier. Florida is an electronics nightmare without UPS and surge and even then…
