When advancing your tech skills and career, demonstrating initiative through practical projects can make a significant difference. Building and managing a homelab is an excellent way to showcase your creativity, problem-solving skills, and ability to learn independently. But a common decision arises when starting your homelab journey: Should you use a Raspberry Pi or a Mini PC? Let’s explore the technical aspects of both options while keeping things approachable.
Raspberry Pi: Compact, Versatile, and Innovative
The Raspberry Pi is a popular choice for learners and hobbyists. It’s low-cost, energy-efficient, and incredibly adaptable. Typically equipped with up to 8GB RAM and a quad-core ARM processor, it offers a unique opportunity to learn optimization and resource management skills.
Common Raspberry Pi projects include:
Running Docker containers for small-scale applications and services.
Setting up lightweight Kubernetes clusters using K3s.
Building automation workflows using Node-RED or Python scripts.
These projects emphasize resourcefulness and innovation, both highly valued in technology roles.
Mini PC: Powerful and Enterprise-Ready
Mini PCs, such as Intel NUCs, provide greater processing power, storage capacity, and expandability, often featuring Intel i5 or i7 processors, 16-32GB RAM, and substantial storage options. This makes them ideal for replicating more complex and demanding enterprise environments.
Popular Mini PC homelab projects include:
- Virtualization setups using VMware ESXi, Proxmox, or Hyper-V.
- Advanced networking scenarios using tools like pfSense or OPNsense for firewall and routing management.
- Security-focused labs with platforms such as Kali Linux, Metasploit, and Wireshark for penetration testing and cybersecurity training.
Mini PCs are especially suited for those aiming to gain hands-on experience with enterprise-level tools and environments.
Mini PC’s are a great option to explore Microsoft based projects as they can run Windows 11 and Server OS allowing you to replicate enterprise environments.
Choosing the Right Option for Your Goals
Your choice between a Raspberry Pi and a Mini PC should align with your career objectives and areas of interest:
- Opt for a Raspberry Pi if: You’re new to homelabs, working within a limited budget, or enjoy creatively solving problems and learning resource optimization.
- Opt for a Mini PC if: You’re interested in replicating professional IT setups, exploring virtualization, or delving into advanced networking and cybersecurity.
The Best of Both?
Why not combined hardware to get maximum capability (and replicate enterprise setups)
Most organisations have a mix of Windows and linux servers, sometimes a mix of proprietry and opensource softwares.
It’s not uncommon to find that the support teams know one, or the other technology, but not always both, why not use your homelab to get hands on and become the MVP in your team!
Maximizing Your Career Advantage
Ultimately, the most significant benefit of a homelab is the experience gained through practical application. Both Raspberry Pis and Mini PCs are excellent platforms for hands-on learning and showcasing your technical capabilities.
Getting Started
Whichever you choose, the key is to begin experimenting and building now. Document your projects and outcomes to demonstrate your capabilities clearly.
Ready to Begin?
Below you’ll find recommended shopping lists to help you get started building your Raspberry Pi or Mini PC homelab!
From the homelab: How I Use Both
I run both Raspberry Pis and mini PCs in my homelab, and they serve very different purposes. The Pis handle lightweight services — DNS filtering, monitoring agents, and automation tasks. The mini PCs run Proxmox and host everything else — VMs, heavy containers, databases, and anything that needs real compute or storage. Here is the honest comparison I wish someone had given me when I started.
When to Choose a Raspberry Pi
A Raspberry Pi is the right choice when the workload is lightweight and the priority is low power consumption, small footprint, or GPIO access for hardware projects.
Ideal Pi workloads:
- DNS filtering — Pi-hole or AdGuard Home. A Pi handles this effortlessly and draws barely any power doing it.
- Monitoring agents — Running Uptime Kuma, node exporters, or lightweight dashboards.
- Automation — n8n or Node-RED for home automation workflows, scheduled scripts, webhook receivers.
- Learning Linux — A Pi is a brilliant first Linux box. SSH in, break things, re-image, repeat. The feedback loop is fast and the cost of failure is zero.
- GPIO and hardware projects — Sensors, LED displays, relay controllers. Mini PCs cannot do this.
Pi limitations to be aware of:
- ARM architecture. Most Docker images support ARM64 now, but some niche or enterprise software still only ships x86 binaries. Check before you commit.
- RAM ceiling. The Pi 5 tops out at 8GB. For services like Nextcloud with a database, or anything Java-based, you will hit this ceiling faster than you expect.
- SD card reliability. MicroSD cards were never designed for the constant read/write cycles of a server OS. They fail — not if, but when. Always use USB boot with an SSD. I moved all my Pis to USB boot early on and the difference in both reliability and speed is night and day.
When to Choose a Mini PC
A mini PC is the right choice when you need virtualisation, more RAM, real storage, or x86 compatibility. This is where serious homelab infrastructure lives.
Ideal mini PC workloads:
- Proxmox or any hypervisor. Running multiple VMs and containers on a single box. This is the backbone of most homelabs.
- Databases. PostgreSQL, MariaDB, or anything that benefits from fast SSD storage and available RAM.
- Media servers. Jellyfin with transcoding needs CPU grunt that a Pi simply cannot deliver.
- Windows Server or Active Directory labs. You need x86 for this. No Pi will run Windows Server.
- Anything compute-heavy. AI inference, build servers, CI/CD runners — anywhere that CPU and RAM matter.
Mini PC advantages over Pis:
- x86 compatibility. Every Docker image, every VM image, every piece of enterprise software runs on x86 without question.
- Expandable RAM. Most refurbished ThinkCentres accept 32GB or even 64GB. A Pi gives you 8GB maximum.
- Real SSDs. M.2 NVMe or 2.5-inch SATA. Proper storage that does not degrade over time like SD cards.
- Silent operation. Modern mini PCs are virtually silent at idle. Some models are fanless entirely.
Real-World Power Consumption
One of the most common questions is “how much will it cost to run?” The answer, for both options, is very little.
| Device | Idle Power | Under Load | Yearly Cost (24/7, at 30p/kWh) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 5 | 3-5W | 10-15W | ~8-13 quid |
| Raspberry Pi 4 | 2-4W | 6-8W | ~5-10 quid |
| Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q (i5) | 8-12W | 35-65W | ~21-32 quid |
| HP EliteDesk 800 G5 Mini | 10-15W | 40-70W | ~26-39 quid |
Neither option is going to make a meaningful dent in your electricity bill. Even running a three-node Proxmox cluster 24/7, you are looking at roughly 60-100 quid per year — less than a Netflix and Spotify subscription combined.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Feature | Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB) | Refurbished Mini PC (i5, 16GB) |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ~75-85 quid (with case and PSU) | ~100-150 quid |
| RAM | 8GB (not upgradeable) | 16-32GB (upgradeable) |
| Storage | USB SSD or NVMe HAT | M.2 NVMe + 2.5″ SATA |
| Power Draw | 3-15W | 8-65W |
| Noise | Silent (passive cooling available) | Near-silent at idle |
| Architecture | ARM64 | x86_64 |
| Virtualisation | Limited (no nested virt) | Full Proxmox/ESXi support |
| GPIO | Yes — 40-pin header | No |
| Best For | DNS, monitoring, automation, learning | VMs, containers, databases, media |
My Recommendation
Start with whichever you already have lying around. An old laptop, a Pi from a previous project, a dusty NUC — it does not matter. Install Docker, deploy a service, and see if the homelab bug bites.
If you are buying new and want a clear recommendation:
- Budget under 100 quid: Raspberry Pi 5 8GB with a USB SSD. You get a genuine Linux server for learning, DNS filtering, lightweight containers, and automation. It is a serious machine for the price.
- Budget 100-150 quid: A refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre M720q or similar with an i5, 16GB RAM, and an SSD. Install Proxmox and you have a proper virtualisation host that will run a dozen containers without breaking a sweat.
- Budget ~200 quid: Get both. A Pi for the lightweight always-on services and a mini PC for the heavy lifting. This is genuinely all you need for a serious homelab, and the two devices together will draw less power than a single light bulb.
Do not overthink it. The best homelab hardware is the hardware you actually set up and use.
ReadTheManual is run, written and curated by Eric Lonsdale.
Eric has over 20 years of professional experience in IT infrastructure, cloud architecture, and cybersecurity, but started with PCs long before that.
He built his first machine from parts bought off tables at the local college campus, hoping they worked. He learned on BBC Micros and Atari units in the early 90s, and has built almost every PC he’s used between 1995 and now.
From helpdesk to infrastructure architect, Eric has worked across enterprise datacentres, Azure environments, and security operations. He’s managed teams, trained engineers, and spent two decades solving the problems this site teaches you to solve.
ReadTheManual exists because Eric believes the best way to learn IT is to build things, break things, and actually read the manual. Every guide on this site runs on infrastructure he owns and maintains.
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