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what are some hardware people would recommend (specifically looking for power efficiency)?
N100/n97/n150 are all perfect (about the same perf). 6-10w idle (similar to rasp pi) but 4-10x more perf.
Above that they need a fan.
> You can get MiniPCs with 4-6 internal M.2 slots that are great for building a NAS with. Where can I find that? My current Intel NUC has two M.2 slots and a SATA connection. If I were to relax the definition of a MiniPC to include mini ITX then yes I can find these, but given how the author talks about being all-in-one, I doubt the author is talking about mini ITX builds.
https://www.bee-link.com/products/beelink-me-mini-n150 Currently in Pre-order, but $210 for 6 slots and an N150
having had quite a bunch of MiniPCs, mostly from reputable brands (Intel NUC series back when Intel had those, then Gigabyte Brix series, then some cheapo china ones), I have moved away from those, because every single one of them (independently of the brand) ended up dying spuriously not long after warranty end and in any case far sooner than any µATX desktop would (in fact I've very rarely had any of the latter die…
I've had great luck with Mac minis over the years. I've had many of them. I'll probably go that route in the future if needed.
I know there are better quality x86 options out there, but the prices go up fast, and I find them hard to justify for what I'd be doing with it. The Mac is really price competitive, which makes it even harder to justify those other options.
I find the idea of a pc being "cheap and replaceable" a negative. PCs take a lot of resources to make. We shouldn't encourage throw away culture any more than is necessary. Just my opinion, though.
Are mini-PCs actually more likely to have a shorter lifespan? Does the smaller physical footprint contribute to a smaller ecological footprint than a full-sized machine? Does the smaller energy consumption offset the manufacture footprint in a meaningful way?
Personally, I found that I've been more likely to donate older mini-PCs to local nonprofits who repurpose them than I am full-sized machines, which I tend to keep around for "just in case" parts scavenging that in practice I rarely actually do. Meanwhile, having a lower cost mini-PC available has made me more likely to start out with a low power machine for a dedicated task with them promise I can always replace it with a "real" machine if the need ends up requiring it. To date, though, the mini-PC has always ended up proving to be "enough" and I've never actually needed to replace one for performance reasons.
But this is just anecdotal. Like I said, I'm curious if there's any real data pointing one way or another.
I agree and already got two minipcs I selfhost a lot of stuff now. I just now realized it is basically the future Gabe Newell predicted and wanted to make with Steam Machines [1], but he was wrong by targeting gamers and a little too early (perhaps?). Maybe they will succeed precisely because of this revolution. I got soooo tired setting up a gaming system for parties on my projector. There are so many various proble…
I bought my forever box on impulse, it was only $130 for a whole mini PC! (with my own ram+storage) I thought surely it'll join the group of devices collecting dust... I was very wrong.
Turns out this PC is meant to be the most utilized of all my computers. It basically has been up 24/7 for 7 years and I really have no excuse to upgrade it yet.
While its processor is nothing to look at (even an N100 is a meaningful step up), on paper it roughly matches a Phenom II X4 955 BE CPU, which was my Windows 7 gaming CPU for many years! so it holds a special place in my heart. It was also my entry to the world of self-hosting docker containers which empowered me to replace the paid/enshitified services I depended on before.
I'd love to have a 40Gbps backlink for a Ceph cluster.
having had quite a bunch of MiniPCs, mostly from reputable brands (Intel NUC series back when Intel had those, then Gigabyte Brix series, then some cheapo china ones), I have moved away from those, because every single one of them (independently of the brand) ended up dying spuriously not long after warranty end and in any case far sooner than any µATX desktop would (in fact I've very rarely had any of the latter die…
My 2008 Mac mini is still running, so it can be done. I'm shocked that Intel NUCs weren't more reliable for you.