I’m going to run generic server tasks (webhosting, Nextcloud, Home Assistant) but also use it as a torrent client, NAS and media center. It will sit close to the dumb TV and give it IPTV and file playback capabilities. I haven’t decided between a SBC or mini PC yet.
My requirements are:
- low idle power consumption (electricity is expensive here, I’m aiming for 5 W with the HDD spun down, able to idle without spinning the fan) so preferrably ARM
- reliability (I’m worried about SD cards in particular, maybe booting from NVMe/mSATA is better)
- connecting my 8TB SATA HDD
- Bluetooth+WiFi+100Mb/s Ethernet
- no dedicated GPU or NPU needed
- 1x FullHD video output (HDMI or even VGA, the TV is ancient)
- GPIO for IR receiver (IPTV should be accessible to tech-illiterate parents)
- budget of 100 € for the whole setup
- available in the Czech Republic (preferring local retailers or used market to Amazon or Aliexpress)
Raspberry Pi 4/5 seems compelling but the HDD needs a separate 12V source and USB adapter, making the setup a little unwieldy, plus people say RPi is overpriced. Mini PCs boot from reliable storage but lack GPIO so they need a USB infraport, and many don’t have SATA or wireless either so that adds more adapters. Or should I repurpose my old laptop, which would run at 10 W and need an adapter for IR but have wireless (and kind of a UPS) built in?
I think that there might be other SBCs (RPi competitors) suited for my use case but I haven’t been able to find a better deal than a used 60 € Raspberry Pi 4B/5 (+10 € fan box + 20 € high-endurance SD card + 2 € microHDMI adapter + I already have the power adapter) from the official site. Given that the 4B and 5 with 4GB RAM cost almost the same, I wonder if the power upgrade is worth it given that the 5’s idle power draw is higher, there is no A/V jack (I can solder though) and I only have the 3A power supply, requiring an extra 20 € to use its full CPU power.
I think the Aoostar R1 will be the simplest setup for you. The N100/N150 have pretty good idle power usage, and it supports 2 3.5HDDs and NVME.
It’s around 3x the budget, which is a greater dealbreaker than a USB3.0-SATA adapter plus 12V source, all of which I already own.
Also, the R1 name sounds too AI-y to me (Rabbit, DeepSeek) but that’s not really relevant.
If your budget is that tight, I would just say just repurpose your laptop, just take the battery out if it’s not already.
The Raspberry fits in the budget, and there is a guy selling one for 40 € but he’s not responded yet…
Also what’s the problem with the battery? It still lasts an hour with the screen on so it’s not trash yet… I’m into electronics and repurpose old Li-Ion cells all the time, including 15 year old Nokia BL-5Cs and they’re alright, they don’t spontaneously develop shorts and are protected against electrical abuse. It’s the alkaline cells that cause havoc (corrosion) if left unused for years. If need be, I can just replace individual cells (I think they are 18650) from a power tool found in trash. Of course, I would get rid of bulging or overheating cells if I encountered them.
Laptops with the screen closed make awesome budget servers!
It’s not that old or professional, unfortunately. It was a budget 15.6" one I got from a relative. Only two USB ports (one is 3.0), Ethernet, HDMI, headphone jack and DVD±RW drive. It’s underwhelming but not that I need much more. It can’t even do 4K but the TV is 1366x768 so that’s OK too.
Sounds like you know what your doing. You do you chief I guess