I’m looking to move from a VM on a windows PC to a new platform, anything other than a Raspberry Pi. Highest priority is stability, not happy with RPI or Windows VM both are unreliable.
I don’t know linux or docker but am willing to google my way through it , would like to install the most recent version of Home Assistant (OS?) that will be supported going forward. I’m willing to spend the money on a NUC if that is the best most stable solution . Hope this makes sense and thanks for your opinions.
See here?
So if I understand that post (and others) installing home assistant direct to the NUC , not via a VM is the most stable but the NUC can only be used for HA?
Also I’m ditching a VM on a windows PC because it keeps losing the network connection, is a VM on a linux machine prone to that also? Thanks! I realize I’m asking multiple questions that should probably be different threads.
Thats not what it says. It depend on your budget, skills, requirements what the best solution is. There is no “selection matrix”. I swear at a nuc with esxi and hass as vm (appliance). USB passthrough and backup (snapshots)… and ability to run additional workloads.
I’m super new to all of this but happy to share my experience. I started on pi. I really don’t trust micro sd cards. I realize there are other options there, but I’ve since repurposed the pi for less critical tasks. Then I went the VM route on a machine that runs locally 24/7. I had trouble passing through usb devices and got frustrated so looked elsewhere. I landed on using docker inside my synology NAS. Docker in synology is a little quirky, but it really came down to support. I found @BeardedConti (bearded tinker) on YouTube and he has so many hassio specific YouTube tutorials that are really well done, that I ended up staying there. For me it came down to having my hand held via good tutorials to find success. I don’t believe that hassio on synology in docker is necessarily better than any other option. It really was the tutorials that made the difference. His approach taught me docker along the way and I’ve since expanded into other docker/hassio integrations beyond what he has tutorials for, but I couldn’t have done it without him. Thanks @BeardedConti !
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There are several options depending on you have money to spend or not. RPI4 is best bet for best cost and yes today you can boot without using microSD. However you can also run your HASS on synology NAS which also a simple solutions. NUC is another way to go if you want to go toward that where you have more powerfull processor.
The installation method is vary since people have their preference. Some like the Generic Linux Hass.io installation. As for my self I’m very happy to install via manual docker. So, which ever you choose is up to you and how good are you with each installations. Should you encounter problem there are always this forum to help you out
Thank you @312elements for this - 
it really means a lot to read something like that!
BTW - to also answer OP @atechnical - it all depends how far do you want to go.
I’m still using my Synology with a lot of integrations docker containers and add-ons.
I did migrate from Home Assistant Core to Synology community package few months ago (3-4?) and it’s been rock solid.
Benefit of this is that Syno community package is “Supervised” HA - giving you option to use hass.io add-ons, but also use additional docker containers to add features to HA.
If I would start, I would still go with Synology for it as it’s working great. Next option I would go with is NUC but with Proxmox on it - not directly installed on bare-metal. Possible issue could be USB, but a lot of people use it and it works great.
RPi 3 didn’t fit my needs because it was too weka. RPi4 is better from what I’ve heard, but haven’t tested it.
Just my 2 cents.
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Thanks to everyone for their input. I’m leaning towards a NUC but am concerned about USB dongles. How much effort is required to get them working? I have a Conbee2 and a Wyze bridge. Thanks again to you all.
Well, I bought a NUC off of fleabay and it’s been running for a week without issue. Thanks again for your insight.
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