Topics
Browse everything we cover, organized by category and tag — with the latest pieces under each.
Tags
- #homelab 15
- #mini-pc 12
- #n100 9
- #low-power 7
- #budget 3
- #intel-n100 3
- #comparison 2
- #docker 2
- #energy-efficiency 2
- #kill-a-watt 2
- #nas 2
- #power-consumption 2
- #thin-client 2
- #uptime 2
- #24-7 1
- #ac-power-recovery 1
- #alder-lake-n 1
- #bios 1
- #build-guide 1
- #buying-guide 1
- #cpu-comparison 1
- #dell 1
- #electricity-cost 1
- #fanless 1
- #hardware 1
- #home-assistant 1
- #home-server 1
- #homelab-build 1
- #hp-t620 1
- #hp-t630 1
- #hp-t640 1
- #idle-wattage 1
- #intel-n305 1
- #intel-n97 1
- #jellyfin 1
- #lenovo-tiny 1
- #lxc 1
- #media-server 1
- #n305 1
- #nextcloud 1
- #noise 1
- #nvme 1
- #pi-hole 1
- #plex 1
- #power 1
- #proxmox 1
- #quick-sync 1
- #raspberry-pi 1
- #sata-ssd 1
- #self-hosting 1
- #silent 1
- #starter-stack 1
- #storage 1
- #thinkcentre 1
- #transcoding 1
- #troubleshooting 1
- #ups 1
- #virtualization 1
- #wyse-5070 1
Categories
guides 10 posts
- Is an N100 Mini PC Enough for Plex Transcoding? What Quick Sync Can and Can't DoThe Intel N100's Quick Sync engine makes a tiny mini PC a capable Plex transcoder, but only within limits. Here's what it handles in hardware, where it
- Mini PC Homelab Won't Auto-Boot After Power Loss: The FixYour homelab survives the outage but the mini PC stays dark. Here's the BIOS setting that fixes it on N100, NUC, Wyse, HP, Beelink, and Lenovo boxes.
- UPS Sizing for a Mini PC Homelab: Runtime, VA Math, and What I Actually RunPicking a UPS for a 10-30W mini PC homelab is about runtime, not VA. The math, the trap with cheap line-interactive units, and the models worth buying.
- Storage Options for a Mini PC HomelabNVMe, SATA SSD, USB drives, and network storage in a small homelab box — the real performance, power, and reliability tradeoffs, plus when an internal SSD
- Quiet and Fanless Mini PC Homelab BuildsHow to get a genuinely silent 24/7 homelab box: truly fanless options, near-silent fan tuning, the storage and PSU noise nobody warns you about, and an
- Proxmox on a Mini PC: A Realistic Setup GuideWhether Proxmox makes sense on a single low-power mini PC, and how to set it up well if it does — install choices, the LXC-vs-VM call, storage layout, and
- Power Consumption Math: What a 24/7 Mini PC Actually CostsThe real cost of running a homelab box 24/7, worked from the wall meter up. Wattage-to-dollars math, regional rate examples, and where a few watts are
- Thin Client Homelab: Turn a $40 Wyse 5070 Into a ServerThe Dell Wyse 5070 is the best cheap x86 homelab box you can buy used. Here's what it idles at, what the Extended model adds, the storage and RAM
- HP T620, T630, T640 Thin Clients as Homelab ServersUsed HP thin clients are still the cheapest entry into an x86 homelab. Here's what each generation actually idles at, what you can run on them, and the
- How to Actually Measure Mini PC Idle Wattage (and Why Specs Lie)Spec-sheet TDP isn't what a mini PC actually pulls from the wall. Here's how to measure idle wattage with an inexpensive energy meter, what to expect from
reviews 4 posts
- Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny vs N100 Mini PC for a HomelabUsed Lenovo M720q/M920q/M75q Tiny vs new Intel N100 mini PCs for a 24/7 homelab — idle wattage, expandability, BIOS quality, and which is the better buy.
- Mini PC vs NAS vs Raspberry Pi for a HomelabThree ways to start a homelab, compared honestly: a mini PC, a prebuilt NAS, and a Raspberry Pi. Cost, power, what each is genuinely good at, and the trap
- The Intel N100 Mini PC Buying Guide for HomelabsWhat to look for when buying an Intel N100 mini PC for a 24/7 homelab — RAM, storage layout, NIC quality, BIOS quirks, and the brands worth (and not
- N100 vs N305 vs N97: Which Low-Power Chip for Your Homelab?Intel's Alder Lake-N family ate the low-power homelab market in 2024. Here's how the N100, N305, and N97 actually compare on cores, idle watts, dollars
builds 3 posts
- A Starter Self-Hosting Stack for a Mini PCThe first services to run on a new N100-class homelab box, in sensible order: reverse proxy, DNS, remote access, backups, then the fun stuff — with the
- A Low-Power 24/7 Home Server Build That Stays QuietA complete parts-to-power walkthrough of a 24/7 home server designed around idle wattage and silence first: hardware choices, the OS layer, BIOS tuning, a
- A $200 N100 Homelab: 11 Services, ~8W Idle, Low MaintenanceA complete reference N100 mini PC homelab build — every part, every service, every BIOS tweak, and what it costs to run per year. Documented so you can copy it.
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