My old laptop for self hosting just croaked, and I’m thinking of buying a 2nd hand mini pc, but this time I want to do it proper. I want to optimize the electricity consumption and specs needed/ future upgreadability, considering how expensive everything is now.
My use case is just for self hosting files (infrequent access and reducing reliance to google drive), and occasional dev workload via ssh. I’m thinking of buying a used optiplex with at least i6 gen cpu (SFF or micro form factor), but I want to see if there are better options.
There was a link posted in this subreddit about power consumption comparison of different mini pcs (raspberry pi, n100, etc), and I regret not saving it.
If anyone could suggest me better options it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Lemmy has relatively good search, usually if you remember bits of the title that works?
In any case: Both n100/n150 and raspi are in the <10W range. Obviously raspi is lower, but also A LOT slower and much worse connectivity. As the price is roughly comparable, I’d go for the much more capable N100/N150. Only go the full ‘minipc’ route if you don’t mind the (probably) higher power usage, which can depend highly on model. Older (but cheap on eBay) models can be 25W on idle.
Depending on what you actually need, I’d setup a Sync thing or NextCloud or something and go from there.
Most small form factor machines will idle in less than 10 watts