Intel NUCs, mini PCs, energy-efficient setups
TL;DR: Refurbished Dell OptiPlex Micro, HP ProDesk Mini, and Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny units are the best value for homelab hardware in 2026. Look for 7th-gen Intel or newer, DDR4 RAM, and budget £100-250 for a solid setup. These beat new hardware on price and run Proxmox beautifully. With DDR5 prices through the roof, buying new
Best Refurbished Mini PCs for Your Homelab in 2026 Read More »
Raspberry Pi or mini PC for a homelab? It is a question I get asked weekly, and the answer is more “both, for different things” than people expect. I have run both for years. The Pi handles lightweight services where low power and a small footprint matter. The mini PC runs everything else: virtualisation, databases,
Raspberry Pi vs Mini PC for Homelab (Power Draw + Real Use) Read More »
Below is the shopping / build sheet for the Raspberry Pi Cluster project From the homelab: I built a Pi cluster for running lightweight services — monitoring, DNS, and a K3s Kubernetes playground. Here is the exact shopping list I used, with notes on what is worth spending on and where to save. Some variables
PiCluster – Build Shopping List Read More »
