I did not count on this mini PC to interchange my NAS, Raspberry Pi, and sensible dwelling hub

Homelabbing is a bizarre passion. You begin with some outdated PC you have already got, and earlier than you realize it, your own home is filled with devices plugged into the wall, every with one weirdly particular job. But a single mini PC can deal with all these jobs and extra, whereas holding your setup remarkably easy and more cost effective to run.

A mini PC makes an important NAS, particularly when you add some storage

Streaming and storage in a single field

Buying a devoted NAS enclosure has real advantages, however it’s primarily a low-power laptop with some neat arduous drive bays and a refined (normally Linux-based) working system.

The software program is a giant plus if you need comfort. Synology DiskStation Manager and QNAP QTS make it simple to configure RAID, handle community permissions, create snapshots, and monitor drive well being with out constructing the setup your self.

However, you will get principally the identical expertise with a NAS-style OS on a mini PC. TrueNAS SCALE, OpenMediaVault, and Unraid provide related comfort. I personally run Ubuntu Server on my mini PC.

The principal caveat is storage expandability. Mini PCs are inclined to have very restricted inside connectivity; possibly there’s an additional M.2 slot should you’re fortunate. But exterior drives simply remedy that, particularly when you’ve a number of high-speed USB ports.

My storage wants are minimal, so I take advantage of my mini PC with a single 6TB exterior arduous drive for backups, images, and, most significantly, media. I even have loads of USB 3.0 ports if I ever want extra storage.

People usually purchase a NAS with the intent to interchange their streaming subscriptions with a self-hosted solution like Plex or Jellyfin, which is strictly how I take advantage of my mini PC.

The massive advantage of a contemporary mini PC is that it is sometimes far more highly effective than a equally priced NAS.

A NAS can completely deal with 4K transcoding (particularly if it helps Intel Quick Sync), however you typically get far more uncooked processing energy from a equally priced mini PC, together with extra headroom for operating different providers on the identical time. It makes a noticeable difference when transcoding, skipping by high-bitrate video, or doing different issues on the server.

Case in level, the Synology DS225+ prices $365 on the time of writing and provides you a low-power quad-core Intel Celeron with simply 2GB of DDR4 RAM, whereas the Acemagic K5 prices round $380 and packs a contemporary Intel Core 3 304 with 12GB of DDR5 RAM. The mini PC is drastically more powerful, so should you do not want specialised NAS software program and devoted drive bays, it is not a nasty trade-off.

Docker lets one mini PC substitute a complete pile of Raspberry Pi providers

Small providers do not want their very own laptop

Docker makes organising and managing self-hosted apps incredibly easy, which is how many individuals use their Raspberry Pis for homelabbing.

A Raspberry Pi is not all that highly effective, however it attracts little or no energy and might nonetheless run a shocking variety of lightweight services with its restricted assets. A single Pi may run AdGuard Home, Home Assistant, Uptime Kuma, Syncthing, and plenty of different smaller utilities with out breaking a sweat.

Unfortunately, RAM costs have driven the cost of higher-end Raspberry Pis up considerably. The Raspberry Pi 5 8GB now retails for round $175, which is just too a lot for what’s finally a single-board laptop that may battle once you strive transcoding a Jellyfin stream on it.

Since I’ve already acquired my mini PC arrange for streaming and general-purpose storage, I merely select to run all my self-hosted providers on it as a substitute.

The processor is greater than highly effective sufficient to deal with something I’d throw onto a Raspberry Pi whereas barely affecting its typical CPU utilization. Buying a separate Raspberry Pi simply to run AdGuard Home 24/7 to dam undesirable community visitors seems wasteful when the mini PC can already deal with it with ease.

While it consumes a bit extra energy than a Pi operating 24/7, it is not a big distinction, because the mini PC remains to be fairly environment friendly in comparison with a standard desktop tower.

Home Assistant turned the mini PC into a strong sensible dwelling hub

It’s simpler to arrange than you suppose

Credit: Adam Davidson / How-To Geek

Home Assistant is the final word platform for sensible dwelling lovers. It affords next-level automation and integrations that assist you to join and management a variety of sensible dwelling units. Say you had a few Wi-Fi-controlled sensible switches however in any other case relied on a Zigbee ecosystem for the whole lot else — you would lastly combine the whole lot with Home Assistant.

You do not even want that many sensible dwelling units to make the most of it. I used to be capable of take my smart bulbs offline and use NFC tags as bodily switches to regulate the lighting in my home, and that is just about all I take advantage of it for.

The better part is that this open-source app can run on virtually any {hardware}, so a contemporary mini PC can run it within the background with out taking over a lot area or drawing a lot energy.

The better part is {that a} mini PC has the whole lot it must be a full-featured sensible dwelling hub: many mini PCs have already got Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, however should you additionally want Zigbee, you’ll be able to plug a Home Assistant-compatible SONOFF Zigbee USB adapter into it. It may also be used with Thread, providing you with a surprisingly simple strategy to unify your sensible dwelling devices underneath a single piece of {hardware}.

This little PC is the middle of my dwelling

Modern mini PCs are shockingly versatile and highly effective units that may run a pair dozen self-hosted providers with out problem. If you desire a single machine to deal with your NAS storage, act as a media server, run your sensible dwelling, and host a bunch of smaller providers whereas barely drawing any energy or taking over area, it is arduous to beat a mini PC.