Hi everyone,
I am looking to upgrade my current home server: a Raspberry Pi 4B (4GB) for something more capable, but still with low power consumption. Nothing overkill. My current setup on the Raspberry Pi 4 is based on OpenMediaVault, and I run Jellyfin, Navidrome, Radicale, Trilium and Syncthing as Docker containers. This has two HDDs connected: a 6TB almost full with movies and series, and a 4TB with around 1 TB of music and the data from Docker. It works mostly OK, but Jellyfin eats the RAM quite easily (the library is not that small) and I need to restart it or it will eventually crash the whole thing.
I have seen here and in similar forums people using and recommending miniPCs with an intel N100 processor, often purchased on AliExpress. I have never used AliExpress and don't have a deep knowledge of processors, power consumption, etc. So my main questions are:
- is a miniPC with an N100 processor still a good option these days for an amateur like me (enough power, low energy consumption)?
- is AliExpress a reliable place to buy a computer for this purpose (shipping to EU)?
I already looked around in AliExpress and found some options, from brands like Bmax, MLLSE, GMKTec, FIREBAT... first time I heard of any of them. From what I have seen there my preference would be:
- GMKTec G3 Mini PC, which seems to have the option to upgrade the RAM (this is not fully clear from what I see on AliExpress) and also has the option to add a second SSD drive. It has 4 USB3 ports so I can add more HDDS in the future in addition to the 2 I currently use. It comes in 2 variants: 8GB RAM + 256GB SSD drive for 112.39€ / 16GB RAM + 512GB SSD drive for 133.39€.
or the
- Bmax B4 Plus. This one seems to not have the ability to upgrade the RAM, but it claims to have a 2.5 inch hard drive slot, so I could add an HDD to it. It comes with 2 USB3 ports and 2 USB2 ports, plus a USB-C port. With 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD drive, it has a price of 132.02€.
Does anyone have any of these miniPCs and can confirm if the RAM/SSD are upgradable? Would you recommend them or something completely different?
I find Lenovo makes the best ones in terms of expandability. Full size PCI-e is crazy on their ThinkCentres
In this regard: here is a comparison of all the Lenovo tinys: https://github.com/a-little-wifi/TinySecrets
Oh definitely they are my preferred overall.
I tend to find mostly dells, with a few HP's and lenovos. Next to me are.... 3 lenovos, 4 dells, and 2 HP's. A few more are in the bin behind me I'll need to test and sort out before I put into use (anything dead I salvage what I can).
Edit: And the lenovos almost always seem to have a full GPU in them which is nice