Hey y’all,
im starting from nothing and dont know what buy. I tought about getting a HA Yellow and the CM4 with 4GB RAM. But its about 210€ thats when i thougt id get a used NUC with a i3-7100U and 8 GB RAM for 160€. I want to do some Automations and control about 30 Bulbs/12 Lights, atleast 6 Plug, 4 TV’s and in the future 1 Outside Camera, 1 Ring Camera, 5 Wall Heater, atleast 3 Tablets with Dashboards,4 humidity and temperature sensors and a doorlock. I maybe want to host more but im not sure about that right now and if i would do it i could buy new hardware.
I’d say “it depends”… 
Personally, I thought about a Yellow as well to also support Nabu Casa. However, the price of a NUC/Mini PC just was way more compelling. I settled for a Lenovo M900 Tiny (i5 6th gen, 16 GB, 128 GB SSD for around 100 € a few weeks ago) running HA in a Proxmox VM. Controlling about 10 lights (Zigbee and Tuya WiFi), multiple smart sockets and running some Addons. Performance-wise I am satisfied.
Ok thanks, are there somethings i should look out for and What Dongles should i get/can you recommended me?
I started with a Deconz Stick but since switched to a Skyconnect due to the need of Zigbee Join Codes (some Zigbee 3 devices need this). I read that some Sonoff Sticks are good as well. No experience with them tho.
@Pipe: if you’re going for Sonoff, be aware that there are P as well E coordinators!
I’m using the P version, am happy about it.
I actually wanted the Sonoff NSPanel, do i need anything except a Zigbee stick to work?
Is there also a big difference?
And hows the Connectivity between other devices that are not from Sonoff? Saw somewhere that it doesnt work
In theory all zigbee devices should work the same (independent of the coordinator brand). The reality is different, from my mileage. Instead of getting a “standard” every device/brand does it’s own things. This can result in less functions then advertised or simple things like detached mode not working with HA (ZHA/Z2M). In the end I was so fed up with this cluster f… that I got rid of all my zigbee gear and switched to esphome (wifi) devicea which are working great and are always 100% compatible with HA!