First HA build: HP 260 G2 vs Raspberry Pi? Plan to use Zigbee

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Hi everyone!

I’m about to start my first Home Assistant journey and I’m looking for some hardware advice. I found a deal on a used HP 260 G2 and I’m wondering if it’s a good starting point.

The Specs:
CPU: Intel Celeron 3855U
RAM: 4GB
Storage: 128GB SSD

Connectivity: Planning to add a Zigbee dongle for sensors and bulbs.

My Goal: I want a stable system to run HAOS. I’ll be starting with basic automations, but I plan to expand my Zigbee network significantly over time.

My questions for the experts:

  1. Is this Celeron 3855U powerful enough for a smooth experience, or will it struggle once the Zigbee network grows?

  2. Is 4GB RAM enough, or should I look for something with 8GB?

  3. Honestly, is this better than a Raspberry Pi 4? I’ve heard Mini PCs are more reliable because of the SSD, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Zigbee wont lean on CPU very much, but the celeron will definitely outperform a PI4 and with a proper ssd will be far more reliable in an easy manner.
RAM will only be an issue if you plan to run a lot of addons/integrations. If zigbee and a few light ones are in scope, no issues with 4GB

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Why NOT to buy a PI to run Home Assistant

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With the Pi, once you have purchased, you cannot add more RAM.

With the HP, you have two slots that you can add up to 32Gb DDR4 RAM.
With the price of memory sky-rocketing recently, if you have the choice, get the one with 8Gb, just to give yourself headroom for the future.

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