One Mini PC Just Replaced My NAS, Raspberry Pi, and Smart Home Hub

Sofía García · 2026-10-02

I've been running a home lab for years. A NAS here, a Raspberry Pi there, a smart home hub tucked behind the TV. It worked, but it was a mess of power bricks, cables, and constant tinkering. Then I tried a mini PC. I didn't expect it to replace all three, but it did—and I'm still a little shocked. ### The Accidental Upgrade It started as a simple experiment. I had a mini PC lying around from a review unit—a $250 box with an Intel N100, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. I figured I'd use it as a secondary desktop. But then I wondered: could it handle my NAS duties? My Raspberry Pi projects? My smart home hub? Spoiler: yes, and then some. ### Why a Mini PC Makes Sense Traditional setups are fragmented. A NAS is great for storage but often underpowered for anything else. A Raspberry Pi is fun but limited by its ARM processor and single USB bus. A smart home hub is convenient but locked into one ecosystem. A mini PC runs full Windows or Linux, has multiple cores, and can virtualize everything. Here's what I consolidated: - **NAS:** I attached a 4-bay USB enclosure and ran OpenMediaVault in a virtual machine. Now I have network storage with snapshots and Docker support—no $500 Synology needed. - **Raspberry Pi:** My Pi-hole, Home Assistant, and Node-RED instances moved to Docker containers. They run faster and I can back them up with a click. - **Smart Home Hub:** Home Assistant runs directly on the mini PC, with a Zigbee/Z-Wave USB stick passed through. It's more responsive than my old hub, and I can automate anything. > "The best part? It's one device to update, one device to back up, and one device to troubleshoot. My wife hasn't complained about blinking lights in months." ### The Numbers That Matter Power consumption is a big deal. My old setup drew about 45 watts idle between the NAS, Pi, and hub. The mini PC idles at 12 watts. That's a savings of roughly $40 per year at $0.12 per kWh. Not huge, but nice. And it's silent—no fan noise, no spinning drives (I use SSDs for the OS and cache). Performance is another win. The N100 handles 4K transcoding in Plex, runs a Windows 11 VM for testing, and still has headroom. The Raspberry Pi would choke on that. ### What I'd Do Differently If I were starting over, I'd buy a mini PC with dual Ethernet ports. I didn't, and now I'm using a USB adapter for my router-on-a-stick setup. It works, but it's not elegant. Also, get one with at least 16GB of RAM—you'll want it for VMs. ### Is It for You? If you're comfortable with a little command-line work, absolutely. If you want plug-and-play, maybe not. But for anyone who's tired of managing multiple devices, a mini PC is a game-changer. It's not just a computer—it's a platform. I never thought I'd say this, but my NAS, Pi, and hub are now collecting dust in a drawer. And I don't miss them one bit.