So I am brand new to homelab using a laptop from 2010 that I am running proxmox with VMs (home assistant, virtual desktop and docker container utilizing portainer). I think scraping by is an understatement. I want to find a mini pc that I will set up the same way (boot into proxmox), and would like to add NAS. I do not care on model, but would like to spend around $100-150 for something use. Are there minimum system requirements that I should look for so that I don’t need to update in a year or so?
I keep scooping up Elitedesk 800’s for 100$ all day and then you can bump the ram to 32gb for the other 50. That gets you at the top of your budget for a pretty decent lil low power proxmox box
I would look for a hp z240 with no hds and as much ram and processor as you can afford.
There are enough hdd slots to run a small nas or play with proxmox or both especially if you get to 32gb of ram or so. And in my experience the sffs upgrades are cheaper than the micros because right now that micro sodimm is pricey.
Bought a n100 mini pc with alder lake igpu today for 60 bucks :). Will set it up as a plex server with av1 decoding! So definitely doable to get something recent for 150.
A used Optiplex is usually the recommendation I see. They’re plentiful and usually capable, so long as it has a decent CPU and enough RAM to handle what you put on it.
Any modern CPU, like a 6th gen intel or newer, should be fine.
It’s probably possible.
Last night I bought an HP Elitedesk 800 G3 with an i7-700 for $163 shipped off a d00d on Facebook Marketplace.
I’m only just starting my homelab journey and I’m just going to take it slow.
I’m aiming to get stuff for a NAS next.
Very similar to what I got and it’s been plugging away for three months just fine beyond my own user errors.
I have just bought a used lenovo thinkcentre m710q with i5 7400T, 8Gb, 128gb for 80€. That leaves some financial space for ram and ssd upgrade.
