Resources
External references we trust for low-power mini-PC homelabs — hardware data, power-tuning references, and communities. Curated, not exhaustive.
Hardware & Power Data
- ServeTheHome — Project TinyMiniMicro
The definitive ongoing series on 1L tiny/mini/micro PCs for homelabs, with measured power and performance. Our primary external reference for this hardware class.
#hardware - Wolfgang's Channel (YouTube)
Practical low-power self-hosting and efficiency builds with real wall-meter numbers. Aligns closely with our measurement-first approach.
#power - PassMark CPU Benchmarks
Synthetic CPU comparison for N100/N305/N97 and thin-client chips. Use for rough sizing, not workload prediction.
#reference
Power Tuning
- Arch Wiki — Power management
The most thorough neutral reference on Linux power tuning — C-states, ASPM, and runtime PM. Distribution-agnostic.
#tuning - powertop documentation
Reference for diagnosing what is keeping a system out of deep idle states.
#tuning
Communities
- r/homelab
Largest homelab community. Good for build feedback; cross-check power claims against wall-meter data, which is often missing.
#community - r/MiniPCs
Focused on mini-PC hardware specifically — useful for model-specific quirks and idle behavior reports.
#community - r/selfhosted
Service-side companion to the hardware: what to actually run on a small always-on box.
#community