Mini PCs for Your Home Lab: A Practical Buyer's Guide

Not every homelab needs a rack-mounted server sucking down 200 watts in a closet. Mini PCs are quiet, power-efficient, and surprisingly capable. You can run Proxmox, Docker, or a NAS on a box that fits in your hand and draws less power than a light bulb.

This guide compares the most popular mini PC options for homelab use and helps you decide when a mini PC makes sense over a traditional server.

Why Mini PCs for a Homelab?

The case for mini PCs comes down to three things: power consumption, noise, and space.

A used Dell PowerEdge R720 idles at 120-200W. Running 24/7, that's roughly $15-25/month in electricity at average US rates. A mini PC with a modern Intel N100 idles at 6-10W. That's $1-2/month. Over a year, the electricity savings alone can pay for the mini PC.

Noise matters too. Rack servers have small, high-RPM fans designed for data center airflow. They're loud. A mini PC in your living room or home office is either silent (fanless) or whisper-quiet. You can put one on your desk and forget it's there.

And then there's space. A mini PC is about the size of a paperback book. You can mount it behind a monitor with a VESA bracket, stack three of them on a shelf, or tuck one into a TV stand.

The Contenders

Intel NUC (and ASUS NUC)

Intel created the NUC (Next Unit of Computing) category and dominated it for a decade before selling the brand to ASUS in 2023. ASUS now produces NUCs, and they're still excellent machines.

What you get: Premium build quality, reliable BIOS updates, Thunderbolt support on many models, well-tested Linux compatibility.

Current lineup: ASUS NUC 14 Pro (Intel Core Ultra series), NUC 13 Pro (13th gen Intel), and various older models on the used market.

Typical specs:

• CPU: Intel Core i5/i7 (recent: Core Ultra 5/7)
• RAM: Up to 64GB DDR4/DDR5 (two SO-DIMM slots)
• Storage: One or two M.2 NVMe slots, some models add a 2.5" SATA bay
• Networking: Intel 2.5GbE on newer models, WiFi 6E/7
• Power draw: 15-28W idle (depending on CPU generation)

Price range: $350-800 new, $150-400 used (older generations)

Best for: People who value reliability and Linux compatibility above all else. The NUC has years of community support behind it, and you'll find Proxmox/Ubuntu guides for nearly every model.

Trade-offs: NUCs cost more than Chinese competitors with equivalent specs. The premium is real, but so is the build quality and support ecosystem.

Beelink

Beelink is the most popular Chinese mini PC brand in the homelab community. They offer aggressive pricing and a surprisingly wide range of configurations.

Notable models:

• Beelink Mini S12 Pro (Intel N100): The budget king. Quad-core, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD for around $150-180. Perfect for a single-purpose server (Pi-hole, Home Assistant, lightweight Docker host).
• Beelink SER6 Pro (AMD Ryzen 7 7735HS): 8 cores, 16 threads, up to 64GB RAM. Serious compute power in a tiny box.
• Beelink EQ12/EQ13 (Intel N100/N305): Dual 2.5GbE NICs, making them popular for pfSense/OPNsense firewalls.

Typical specs:

• CPU: Intel N100 to AMD Ryzen 9
• RAM: 8-32GB (often soldered on budget models, SO-DIMM on higher-end)
• Storage: One M.2 NVMe, sometimes a second SATA slot
• Networking: Single or dual 2.5GbE, WiFi 6
• Power draw: 6-10W idle (N100), 20-35W idle (Ryzen)

Price range: $130-550 new

Best for: Budget-conscious homelabbers. The N100-based models are the best value in the mini PC market right now.

Trade-offs: Build quality varies. Some models have noisy fans that need replacement. BIOS updates are infrequent. You're buying from Amazon or AliExpress — warranty support is limited compared to business-class hardware.

MinisForum

MinisForum positions itself slightly above Beelink in build quality and offers some unique configurations that homelabbers love.

Notable models:

• MinisForum UM790 Pro (AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS): 8 cores, 16 threads, 32GB RAM, Oculink for eGPU. A beast in a small box.
• MinisForum MS-01 (Intel 12th/13th gen): The homelab darling. Dual 10GbE SFP+, dual 2.5GbE, three M.2 slots, and space for a 2.5" drive. It's a mini server, not just a mini PC.
• MinisForum UN100 (Intel N100): Their budget entry, similar to Beelink's N100 offerings.

Typical specs:

• CPU: Intel N100 to AMD Ryzen 9 / Intel i9
• RAM: Up to 96GB DDR5 (model dependent)
• Storage: Up to three M.2 slots on the MS-01
• Networking: Up to dual 10GbE SFP+ on the MS-01
• Power draw: 6-10W idle (N100), 25-45W idle (high-end)

Price range: $150-800 new

Best for: The MS-01 is arguably the best purpose-built mini homelab server available. If you need 10GbE, multiple NVMe slots, and real compute power, it's hard to beat.

Trade-offs: Availability can be spotty — MinisForum sells primarily through their own website. Shipping times vary. Some models have fan noise issues that require swapping thermal pads or fans.

HP EliteDesk Mini (800 G5/G6/G7/G8)

HP's EliteDesk Mini series are business desktops shrunk to 1-liter form factor. They show up on the used market in bulk as companies refresh their fleets, and they're exceptional homelab machines.

Why homelabbers love them: Business-class reliability, excellent driver support, consistent BIOS updates (even for older models), and used pricing that's hard to beat.

Typical specs (used G6, ~$120-200):

• CPU: Intel Core i5-10500T / i7-10700T (6-8 cores)
• RAM: Up to 64GB DDR4 (two SO-DIMM slots)
• Storage: One M.2 NVMe + one 2.5" SATA bay
• Networking: Intel 1GbE (some models have 2.5GbE), WiFi optional
• Power draw: 10-20W idle

Price range: $80-200 used (G5/G6), $200-400 used (G7/G8)

Best for: The best value per dollar if you buy used. A G6 with an i5-10500T, 32GB RAM, and a 512GB NVMe can often be found for $150, which is less than a comparable new Beelink with a weaker CPU.

Trade-offs: Only 1GbE on most models (you can add USB 2.5GbE). No Thunderbolt on most configurations. The "T" suffix CPUs are low-power variants (35W TDP) — still fast, but you're not getting desktop-class single-threaded performance.

Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny (M70q/M80q/M90q)

Lenovo's answer to the EliteDesk Mini. Same concept — business desktops in a tiny form factor — with Lenovo's trademark reliability.

Typical specs (used M80q Gen 2, ~$130-220):

• CPU: Intel Core i5-11500T / i7-11700T
• RAM: Up to 64GB DDR4 (two SO-DIMM slots)
• Storage: One M.2 NVMe + one 2.5" SATA bay
• Networking: Intel 1GbE, WiFi optional
• Power draw: 10-20W idle

Price range: $80-200 used (Gen 1/2), $200-400 used (Gen 3/4)

Best for: Identical use case to the EliteDesk Mini. Choose whichever is cheaper on the used market when you're buying. Both are excellent.

Trade-offs: Same limitations — 1GbE, no Thunderbolt on most models, T-series low-power CPUs. Lenovo has a good track record of BIOS updates, but check for the specific model you're buying.

Comparison Table

Choosing the Right Mini PC for Your Use Case

Lightweight Docker Host / Pi-hole / Home Assistant

Best pick: Beelink Mini S12 Pro or any N100-based mini PC.

The Intel N100 is absurdly efficient. Four cores at 6W idle is enough to run 15-20 Docker containers comfortably. The 16GB RAM ceiling is the main limitation, but for lightweight services it's plenty.

# Check how many containers a typical N100 box can handle
# This is real-world output from an N100 running 18 containers:
$ free -h
              total        used        free      shared  buff/cache   available
Mem:           15Gi       4.2Gi       2.1Gi       312Mi       9.1Gi        10Gi
$ uptime
 14:23:07 up 47 days, load average: 0.42, 0.38, 0.35

Proxmox Virtualization Host

Best pick: HP EliteDesk G6/G7 or Lenovo M80q/M90q (used), or MinisForum MS-01 (new).

Virtualization needs RAM and cores. A used EliteDesk G6 with 64GB RAM and an i5-10500T gives you 6 cores and enough memory to run 5-8 VMs comfortably. Upgrade the NVMe to a 1-2TB drive and you've got a solid single-node Proxmox host for under $250 total.

For a Proxmox cluster, buy three identical used EliteDesks. Three nodes with 64GB RAM each gives you 192GB total with high availability. Total cost: ~$500-600.

Network Appliance (pfSense / OPNsense)

Best pick: Beelink EQ12/EQ13 or any mini PC with dual NICs.

You need at least two Ethernet ports — one for WAN, one for LAN. The N100-based Beelink EQ12 comes with dual 2.5GbE and idles at under 8W. That's a perfect, silent firewall.

# Verify both NICs are detected in OPNsense
$ ifconfig | grep -E "^(igc|em|re)"
igc0: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
igc1: flags=8943<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,PROMISC,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500

NAS / Storage Server

Best pick: MinisForum MS-01 or a used EliteDesk with USB expansion.

Mini PCs are limited in drive bays. The MS-01 is the best option here with three M.2 slots and a 2.5" bay, plus 10GbE for fast network access. But if you need more than 4-8TB, a dedicated NAS (Synology, TrueNAS on a larger chassis) is probably a better choice.

For moderate storage, an EliteDesk with one NVMe (boot) and one 2.5" SATA SSD (data) works fine. Add a USB 3.2 enclosure with a large drive for bulk storage.

High-Performance Compute

Best pick: MinisForum UM790 Pro or Beelink SER6 Pro (AMD Ryzen).

If you're running Plex with hardware transcoding, compiling code, running AI inference, or anything CPU-intensive, the AMD Ryzen 7/9 chips in these mini PCs are genuinely powerful. The Ryzen 9 7940HS in the UM790 Pro has an integrated RDNA 3 GPU that handles hardware transcoding and even light AI workloads.

Power Consumption: The Hidden Cost

This is where mini PCs really shine compared to traditional servers. Let's do the math.

Assume $0.15/kWh (US average) running 24/7:

The R720 costs $190/year just in electricity. An N100 mini PC costs $8/year. Over 3 years, you'd save enough on electricity to buy two more mini PCs.

When NOT to Use a Mini PC

Mini PCs aren't the right choice for every situation:

You need lots of storage: If you're building a NAS with 4+ hard drives, you need a proper NAS chassis. Mini PCs max out at 1-3 drives. You can use USB enclosures, but that's adding latency, complexity, and failure points.

You need ECC RAM: Most mini PCs don't support ECC memory. If you're running ZFS with important data, this matters. Some AMD-based mini PCs (Ryzen Pro chips) do support ECC, but it's the exception.

You need GPU passthrough: Mini PCs don't have PCIe slots for dedicated GPUs. Some have Oculink for eGPU enclosures, but that adds cost and complexity. If you need a GPU for Plex transcoding, AI workloads, or gaming VMs, a desktop or server with PCIe slots is the way to go.

You need IPMI/remote management: Enterprise servers have out-of-band management (iDRAC, iLO) that lets you reboot, access BIOS, and mount ISOs remotely. Mini PCs don't have this. If your mini PC hangs, you need physical access. Intel vPro on some NUC and EliteDesk models provides similar functionality, but it's not as capable as full IPMI.

You need redundant power or hot-swap drives: These are enterprise server features. Mini PCs are consumer/business hardware.

Buying Tips

Buy used business machines in bulk lots: eBay sellers liquidate corporate fleets of EliteDesks and ThinkCentres regularly. Buying 3-5 units from the same seller often gets you identical hardware at $100-150 each, perfect for a cluster.

Check RAM upgrade costs before buying: An N100 mini PC with 8GB soldered RAM that can't be upgraded is a dead end. A used EliteDesk with 8GB that takes standard SO-DIMMs is cheap to upgrade to 64GB.

Factor in the power supply: Most mini PCs use external power bricks. They're proprietary, so if it dies, you need the exact replacement. Keep the spare if you buy used, or note the voltage/amperage so you can source a replacement.

Test drive Linux before committing: Most mini PCs work great with Linux, but check for your specific model. NUC and EliteDesk/ThinkCentre have the best track record. Beelink and MinisForum occasionally have WiFi or sleep issues that need kernel parameter tweaks.

# Quick hardware compatibility check after booting a live USB
lspci | grep -i ethernet   # NIC detected?
lspci | grep -i vga        # GPU for transcoding?
sensors                     # Temperature sensors working?
free -h                     # RAM recognized correctly?
lsblk                       # All drives visible?

The mini PC homelab is having a moment. The N100 chip made it possible to run a useful homelab for under $200 and $1/month in electricity. Used business machines make Proxmox clusters accessible to anyone with a few hundred dollars. You don't need a rack to have a real homelab anymore.