What should my starting hardware be?

Hardware
1

I’m a beginner and I’m planning to get stuck into creating a smart home and planning to use Home Assistant to do it (probably with Node Red in the future). Nothing too extravagant just a few things here and there.

I need to figure out where to host my Home Assistant server. I’ve got a couple of options:

  1. I could use my existing Gaming PC (pretty good specs) with a virtual machine
  2. My old gaming laptop (only 5 years old so probably good enough. Also with a virtual machine.
  3. or go the Rasberry Pi route

Just wondering which route would be best suited for Home Assistant with my already existing hardware in mind.

2

pi ok but the sdcard lets it down

I used a real PC with just HA OS

HP Elitedesk 800 G2 (8GB,240 SSD) over Kill but has not let me down yet

put proxmox on that 5 year PC you be a happy camper

3

Your old gaming laptop with VM will work perfectly.

4

#2 hands down. laptop has backup battery.
Docker with some linux version is easiest (opinion) but VM is good.

any of 3 would work just fine however

5

A small hardware store can be started for less than $100,000. Costs include rent for the building, start-up inventory, display setup, and cash reserve for staffing and labor costs. You’ll also want insurance. Start-up inventory will likely run between $50,000 and $75,000.

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1 Like
6

#2 for hardware
Some Linux version or Proxmox VE for OS