Using Mini PC as HA Hub

Hardware
1

Hello HA Comunity.

I am a complete newbie when it comes to home automation, but I have a feeling it’s soon to become a (very expensive) passion.

I have a brand new apartment that I am looking to automate. Lights, AC/Heating, Lock, the works… I’ve been reading and researching and I’m ready to gather my hardware.

I wanted to run HAOS on a Raspberry Pi 4, but since it costs it’s weight in gold, I turned my attention to Mini PC’s, AliExpress ones to be exact.

I am looking at something like W8 Pro 4GB/64gb Mini Pc & Tv Box or similar, something cheap, that has an Ethernet port and a couple of USB ports for my zigbee dongle.

Would that be a solution to the way too expensive Pi or am I missing something?

Thank you very much for your time and knowledge!

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Not only a solution, but even a better experience. It is beefier, than a Pi, it will react better. :wink:

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Have a look at everything smart home who has covered this well and great info on which hardware, i myself have the balls to the floor Dell T420 …

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Be aware that it holds a fairly old CPU.

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Yes, but I think since it’s only used as a HA hub, it has to handle relatively easy tasks…

6

Thank you guys for the replies!
This here is the main reason behind choosing HA over other ecosystems, the Community.

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If you are willing to go for a CPU that is older and you find a RPi expensive, I would advise you to look for used systems.
Just look around here on the forum and you will find ample suggestions.

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I use the GeekOm MiniAir11 and it is works great. Currently I have it on with Win11 and VMWare to run HASS OS.

Here is a great tutorial to get it up and running.

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I have played with a few different mini PCs. Rule of thumb- if it will run Linux, it will run Home Assistant. The processor in this one may be old, but will would sill leave the Pi in the dust. But buy the 64Gb one because you can’t update eMMc memory yourself. (It’s soldered in). If you can get it with no OS you can save the cost of the Windows license.

This is my latest plaything. I had HAOS on it for a while before changing to Ubuntu Desktop to run a database program. When I finish with the database project, I may get another mini-pc.

My current setup is an Intel NUC i5 running x-86 HAOS. Some say it’s overkill, but a HA restart in just a few seconds says something about my patience. A full backup snapshot take about a minute.

And I’ll never wear out a micro-SD card.

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Thanks Stephen for chiming in!
My point was mainly that for the price you get older HW and comparing it to your Bmax proves it.

BTW: are you familiar with virtualization?
If not, I really would advise you to check Proxmox VE: that way you can run multiple services on 1 system.