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Recomend a Mini PC to host home assistant on (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 days ago by x4740N@lemmy.world to c/homeassistant@lemmy.world
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  • must not add insane amounts of cost to my power bill
  • Has to be upgradable if I need to add upgrades to the hardware in the future
  • Has a speaker
  • may want to possibly also set up node red but it depends on if I need it or not because I may just be fine with home assistants automation
  • has to have wireless connectivity
  • mainly setting this up to add automation around my reolink cameras linked through the reolink home hub for example getting a second camera in the same area to start recording when one detects motion or link other smart home security products like sirens or floodlights
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[-] 18107@aussie.zone 16 points 2 days ago

If you want really cheap and low power, a Raspberry Pi will do for most tasks.

If you want more processing power, an old Thinkpad laptop is reliable and has a built-in UPS (a laptop battery).

Any desktop computer will give you the customisation and upgradability you want, but you'll need to decide on each part individually. I don't have any specific recommendations here.

[-] traches@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

Eh, RPI pushes you to use a microSD card which sucks in a few ways. They also aren’t all that cheap.

Used thin client is the way to go

[-] Amberskin@europe.pub 2 points 22 hours ago

You can leave just the /boot partition in the SD and put the root fs in an external USB drive (SSD or mechanical).

I’have a SIMH emulation farm running inside a Pi3 which has been up literally for years. Zero trouble.

[-] claude_flammang@dju.social 2 points 20 hours ago

@Amberskin
On Pi5 no need for SD it boots and runs perfectly well from SSD.

[-] Amberskin@europe.pub 1 points 17 hours ago

Oh, really? I guess I’ll have to check the EEPROM stuff…

[-] lionel@toot.coupou.fr 2 points 2 days ago

@traches
I completely agree. I started off using a rpi as this whole home automation thing was more of a test at first. Then the more I used it, the more I relied on it and it really bugged me when my sdcard failed and I could not restore the backup as well. I moved away from rpis for this and for anything of real importance ever since.
@18107

[-] 123@programming.dev 1 points 23 hours ago

Just replying to agree to everything. You will also not believe just how fast home assistant feels running on an n100 compared to a RPI 4. Can't speak of the RPI 5 wince I don't have one, but unless you plan to interface with hardware, a used thin client mini PC just can't be beat with the 5 being so expensive for this use case.

[-] varyingExpertise@feddit.org 1 points 23 hours ago

That's why you use a good SSD and a USB enclosure. But yes, used thin clients are usually cheaper and you get more bang for the buck.

[-] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

NUCs on AliExpress with an N100 intel cpu cost about as much as a Raspberry Pi and are more powerful and you get SSD storage so non of the downsides of SD cards.

[-] fin@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago

They are dropping support for 32bit computers, so be careful not to buy rpi2.

this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2025
45 points (100.0% liked)

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