I didn’t anticipate this small PC to change my NAS, Raspberry Pi, and wise home center

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Released Oct 2, 2026, 2:30 PM EDT

Ismar is a Senior Author at How-To Geek. He formerly worked as an author, editor, and basic supervisor at a material firm before signing up with the group in 2023.

He started his composing profession in 2021 after finishing a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature. Beyond How-To Geek, Ismar has actually added to Red Stag Fulfillment and Authority Hacker. He has actually likewise dealt with numerous SEO jobs to assist customers enhance their search presence.

Ismar has actually been around Windows PCs because the age of 3, so loved ones naturally selected him as the resident tech assistance. His tasks frequently include tinkering, such as dismantling mechanical keyboards and video gaming mice to mod his precious equipment.

He likewise takes pleasure in pressing hardware to the max through overclocking while remaining on a sensible spending plan. A passionate player, Ismar has actually logged countless hours throughout numerous categories, consisting of first-person shooters, RPGs, racing video games, and roguelites.

When he is not at his desk, he is most likely checking out other individuals’s phones to find their peculiarities and functions or explore the most recent AI tools.

In his spare time, Ismar takes pleasure in hanging out with his partner, exercising at the health club, playing guitar and bass, cooking premium meals, and taking a trip. Above all else, he’s a happy feline owner.

Homelabbing is an unusual pastime. You begin with some old PC you currently have, and before you understand it, your home has lots of gizmos plugged into the wall, each with one strangely particular task. A single tiny PC can deal with all those tasks and more, while keeping your setup extremely easy and more cost-efficient to run.

A tiny PC makes a fantastic NAS, particularly as soon as you include some storage

Streaming and storage in one box

Purchasing a devoted NAS enclosure has real advantages, however it’s basically a low-power computer system with some cool hard disk drive bays and a refined (normally Linux-based) os.

The software application is a huge plus if you desire benefit. Synology DiskStation Manager and QNAP QTS make it simple to set up RAID, handle network approvals, develop pictures, and screen drive health without constructing the setup yourself.

You can get essentially the exact same experience with a NAS-style OS on a tiny PC. TrueNAS SCALE, OpenMediaVault, and Unraid use comparable benefit. I personally run Ubuntu Server on my tiny PC.

The primary caution is storage expandability. Mini PCs tend to have extremely minimal internal connection; perhaps there’s an additional M. 2 slot if you’re fortunate. External drives quickly resolve that, particularly when you have a number of high-speed USB ports.

My storage requirements are very little, so I utilize my small PC with a single 6TB external hard disk drive for backups, pictures, and, most significantly, media. I likewise have a lot of USB 3.0 ports if I ever require more storage.

Individuals typically purchase a NAS with the intent to change their streaming memberships with a self-hosted service like Plex or Jellyfin, which is precisely how I utilize my tiny PC.

The huge advantage of a modern-day tiny PC is that it’s normally far more effective than a likewise priced NAS.

A NAS can definitely deal with 4K transcoding (specifically if it supports Intel Quick Sync), however you typically get a lot more raw processing power from a likewise priced small PC, together with more headroom for running other services at the exact same time. It makes an obvious distinction when transcoding, avoiding through high-bitrate video, or doing other things on the server.

Case in point, the Synology DS225+ expenses $365 at the time of composing and provides you a low-power quad-core Intel Celeron with simply 2GB of DDR4 RAM, while the Acemagic K5 expenses around $380 and loads a contemporary Intel Core 3 304 with 12GB of DDR5 RAM. The small PC is dramatically more effective, so if you do not require specialized NAS software application and devoted drive bays, it’s not a bad compromise.

The Intel Core 3 304-powered Acemagic K5 loads remarkably capable daily efficiency, abundant I/O, and a devoted AI NPU into a small, economical desktop.

Docker lets one small PC change an entire stack of Raspberry Pi services

Little services do not require their own computer system

Docker makes establishing and handling self-hosted apps exceptionally easy, which is the number of individuals utilize their Raspberry Pis for homelabbing.

A Raspberry Pi isn’t all that effective, however it draws extremely little power and can still run an unexpected variety of light-weight services with its restricted resources. A single Pi might run AdGuard Home, Home Assistant, Uptime Kuma, Syncthing, and a variety of other smaller sized energies without breaking a sweat.

RAM rates have actually driven the expense of higher-end Raspberry Pis up considerably. The Raspberry Pi 5 8GB now retails for around $ 175which is just excessive for what’s eventually a single-board computer system that can have a hard time when you attempt transcoding a Jellyfin stream on it.

Given that I’ve currently got my small PC established for streaming and general-purpose storage, I just select to run all my self-hosted services on it rather.

The processor is more than effective sufficient to deal with anything I ‘d toss onto a Raspberry Pi while

hardly impacting its common CPU use. Purchasing a different Raspberry Pi simply to run AdGuard Home 24/7 to obstruct undesirable network traffic appears inefficient when the tiny PC can currently manage it with ease.

While it takes in a bit more power than a Pi running 24/7, it’s not a considerable distinction, as the tiny PC is still rather effective compared to a standard desktop tower.

Home Assistant turned the tiny PC into an effective wise home center

It’s much easier to establish than you believe

Credit: Adam Davidson/ How-To Geek

Home Assistant is the supreme platform for clever home lovers. It uses next-level automation and combinations that permit you to link and manage a vast array of clever home gadgets. State you had a number of Wi-Fi-controlled wise switches however otherwise depended on a Zigbee community for whatever else– you might lastly incorporate whatever with Home Assistant.

You do not even require that lots of wise home gadgets to benefit from it. I had the ability to take my wise bulbs offline and utilize NFC tags as physical switches to manage the lighting in my home, which’s practically all I utilize it for.

The very best part is that this open-source app can operate on nearly any hardware, so a modern-day tiny PC can run it in the background without using up much area or drawing much power.

The very best part is that a tiny PC has whatever it requires to be a full-featured clever home center: lots of mini PCs currently have Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, however if you likewise require Zigbee, you can plug a Home Assistant-compatible SONOFF Zigbee USB adapter into it. It can likewise be utilized with Thread, offering you a remarkably simple method to merge your wise home gizmos under a single piece of hardware.

This little PC is the center of my home

Modern mini PCs are shockingly versatile and effective gadgets that can run a couple lots self-hosted services without concern. If you desire a single gadget to manage your NAS storage, serve as a media server, run your clever home, and host a lot of smaller sized services while hardly drawing any power or using up area, it’s tough to beat a tiny PC.