I’ve used each in my homelab for 8 years, however there’s just one I might suggest to inexperienced persons

I’ve been operating a homelab for about eight years now, and through that point I’ve used each mini PCs and NAS techniques for all types of workloads. I’ve additionally gone by way of a number of generations of Mini PCs and NAS. After all that experimentation, there may be one I’d suggest to most individuals beginning their first homelab.

The downside is {that a} mini PC and a NAS are good at very various things, regardless that the road between them has turn into more and more blurry. Add used enterprise {hardware}, more and more succesful client mini PCs, and the rising variety of DIY NAS choices to the combo, and selecting the place to start out isn’t almost as easy because it was once.

Mini PCs weren’t all the time this good

The worth proposition has modified

This advice would have been more durable for me to make a couple of years in the past. Consumer mini PCs weren’t all the time significantly compelling from a price-to-performance perspective. You may discover small computer systems, however when you began evaluating their costs with typical desktops and laptops, the worth wasn’t all the time apparent.

For homelab customers, the extra fascinating possibility was typically utilizing enterprise {hardware}. I’ve personally gone down that route. I’ve used machines such because the HP T630 and HP EliteDesk 705, together with different small enterprise techniques, as a result of they supplied plenty of what a homelab wanted with out costing a lot.

These machines had been by no means significantly thrilling. That was a part of the attraction. You may discover a used commerce machine with a fairly succesful processor, upgradeable reminiscence, an SSD, and networking for comparatively little cash (a few of them nonetheless are). That was the economics of the homelab for a very long time.

The market has modified since then. Modern client mini PCs have turn into rather more aggressive. You can now get surprisingly capable processors, a number of storage choices, loads of RAM, 2.5GbE networking, and good virtualization efficiency in machines that stay sufficiently small to vanish behind a monitor. That makes the mini PC a lot simpler to suggest as a primary homelab machine than it as soon as was.

A NAS remains to be a wonderful first server

It simply solves a special downside

NAS {hardware} has an apparent benefit in a single key space—it is desigend round storage. A 4-bay NAS offers you someplace to place a number of laborious drives, configure redundancy, create community shares, and centralize your knowledge. Most NAS manufacturers like Synology, QNAP, and Asustor additionally present utility ecosystems that may deal with way over file sharing.

I’ve spent sufficient time preventing with Synology to know that I don’t wish to be locked into proprietary software program, and the actual distinction is definitely how a lot freedom you get as soon as you progress past the producer’s supposed use.

A mini PC begins as a common function laptop whereas a NAS begins as a storage equipment that may typically do significantly extra. That turns into vital when you begin experimenting. You see somebody doing one thing ridiculous of their homelab, suppose, “I may most likely do this,” and earlier than you recognize it, you will have spent your total night following a random weblog submit from 2019 to get a very pointless service operating in your community.

A mini PC offers you a much bigger playground

You can determine what the machine turns into

A fairly trendy x86 mini PC can run Linux, Windows, BSD, Proxmox VE, or one other working system that helps its {hardware}. You can run Docker instantly on Linux, create digital machines, experiment with LXC, set up Home Assistant, construct a DNS server, host purposes, experiment with Kubernetes, or flip the machine right into a improvement atmosphere.

You can even set up Proxmox and break up the machine into a number of unbiased environments. One VM can run Docker. Another can run a special Linux distro. You can create an LXC container for an additional service and throw the entire thing away if you’re completed experimenting. That is the a part of a homelab that I discover Most worthy!

You’re not merely deploying purposes. You’re studying how the development projects beneath them works. If you break one thing, you possibly can rebuild it. If you wish to strive one other working system, you possibly can set up it. If you determine you wish to study virtualization, the identical {hardware} can turn into your virtualization server. A NAS can do a few of this, particularly if you happen to intentionally purchase one with a succesful processor and sufficient RAM. A mini PC offers you this freedom from the start.

The NAS wins when storage is the precedence

Drive bays are tough to switch with a mini PC

There is one space the place a NAS has a simple benefit, and that’s storage. TrueNAS recommends not less than two identically sized storage units for a primary storage pool, which lets you create a mirror and have redundancy if one drive fails. So, in concept, a mini PC with two M.2 slots can fulfill that requirement too.

The downside is {that a} typical mini PC doesn’t provide the identical storage capability or enlargement choices as a NAS. You would possibly get two M.2 slots and, in some fashions, a 2.5-inch SATA bay. That is sufficient to construct a small redundant storage system, however it leaves you with little or no room so as to add drives as your storage necessities develop.

There can also be one other limitation that’s straightforward to miss. Those two M.2 slots will not be essentially equal, and a mini PC would possibly assist two PCIe 4.0 x4 NVMe drives, however solely join the first slot at PCIe 4.0 x4 whereas limiting the second slot to one thing like PCIe 3.0 x2. Both drives will work completely nicely in a ZFS mirror, however the slower connection can turn into a bottleneck beneath workloads that put vital stress on each drives. I’ve personally handled this example, and in such circumstances, the {hardware} turns into a efficiency bottleneck nicely earlier than ZFS pool-level optimizations could make a significant distinction.

For a small homelab storing backups, media, or operating mild workloads, this can be completely acceptable. But if storage is the primary function of the system, a 4, 6, or 8-bay NAS offers you much more room to construct a bigger pool, add drives, and increase capability over time. That is the place I’d select the NAS over the mini PC.

Power consumption can change the calculation

An always-on server provides up

Power consumption is straightforward to disregard if you’re evaluating a $200 mini PC with a $500 NAS. It’s more durable to disregard after both machine has been operating repeatedly for a yr. Mini PCs are usually designed round low-power laptop computer or mobile-derived processors, and plenty of can idle at surprisingly low energy ranges. A used commerce mini PC will also be very environment friendly for the quantity of compute it supplies.

A NAS has extra variables… The NAS enclosure itself could also be comparatively environment friendly, however each extra laborious drive consumes energy. A 4 bay NAS with 4 spinning disks goes to have a special energy profile from a diskless NAS or a mini PC with one NVMe SSD. Drive exercise additionally modifications consumption.

That doesn’t robotically make the mini PC cheaper to function. If the NAS replaces a number of different machines and supplies all your storage, the extra energy will be totally cheap. It’s merely another excuse to consider what you really want earlier than shopping for. For a small homelab that runs a handful of containers, a mini PC can present plenty of computing functionality while not having a number of laborious drives spinning all day.

The NAS will also be simpler to handle

Convenience is a respectable cause to decide on one

There is one other aspect to this argument that shouldn’t be ignored. A NAS will be significantly simpler to handle. Instead of putting in an working system, configuring Docker, organising storage, creating community shares, and determining find out how to monitor your disks, you possibly can typically accomplish most of this by way of an internet interface.

That comfort is among the causes NAS platforms exist within the first place. If your purpose is to have a dependable place for your loved ones’s recordsdata relatively than study Linux administration, there’s little cause to make the challenge more durable than mandatory.

The identical applies to purposes. Synology and QNAP have spent years constructing ecosystems round their {hardware}. You can set up purposes, handle storage, configure backups, and administer the machine with out essentially needing to know each part beneath it. For some folks, that’s precisely what they need.

Eventually, you might have considered trying each

The mini PC can turn into your compute node

This is the place the comparability turns into a lot much less fascinating, as a result of a mature homelab can simply have each. I personally use each and a DAS. The mini PC can run Proxmox, Docker, digital machines, and no matter different companies you wish to experiment with.

The NAS can present bulk storage, backups, media storage, and shared community storage. You may even begin with the mini PC and add the NAS after getting a cause to purchase one. That’s the route I’d take as a result of it lets your {hardware} necessities develop alongside your homelab. You would possibly uncover that you just solely want a small SSD and a handful of containers. In that case, it’s possible you’ll by no means want a NAS.

Or you would possibly finally accumulate a number of TBs of knowledge and determine {that a} correct storage server is smart. At that time, you’ll be shopping for a NAS since you perceive why you want it relatively than as a result of each homelab information informed you to purchase one.

So what ought to a newbie purchase?

I’ve gone from small-form-factor PCs and refurbished enterprise machines to used mini PCs and now trendy client mini PCs. While used enterprise {hardware} remains to be a unbelievable possibility on a decent finances, trendy mini PCs have modified the equation. If you will have the finances, I’d personally purchase a brand new one. They are significantly extra highly effective and succesful, particularly for one thing like Proxmox, and you may all the time add a couple of low cost used mini PCs later if you wish to construct a small cluster.

If you’re not significantly thinking about tinkering, although, I’d go along with a NAS. I’d additionally recommend wanting past probably the most proprietary choices if you wish to keep away from being tied to 1 ecosystem, though platforms like Synology stay very engaging exactly as a result of their software program makes issues equivalent to photograph administration, backups, and file sharing so handy.

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  Brand

  UGREEN

  CPU

  Intel Core 5 120U

  The UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Ultra NAS has six bays that maintain as much as 208TB of storage — and a Core 5 120U that may deal with even demanding community duties.

  
  

• 

  CPU

  Ryzen 3 3200U

  Graphics

  Radeon Vega 3

  The Beelink SER3 mini PC is the proper entry-level Windows desktop for these on a finances. With a Ryzen 3 3200U processor, this desktop ships with Windows 11 Pro and 16GB of DDR4 RAM. A 500GB SSD is pre-installed (and user-upgradable), and you will find twin HDMI ports, Ethernet, and 4 USB-A ports on this compact desktop.

  
  

There can also be a 3rd possibility price contemplating if you happen to’re extra of a knowledge hoarder or wish to experiment with redundant storage, ZFS, and storage swimming pools. Look for DIY NAS {hardware}, the place you’re free to put in one thing like TrueNAS, Unraid, OpenMediaVault, or one other working system as a substitute of being locked into the producer’s software program. This is usually a significantly fascinating possibility if the storage aspect of the homelab is what excites you.