Choosing the right system to run your home lab on can be challenging. There are so many single-board computers (SBCs) like the Raspberry Pi, not to mention old PC hardware, used enterprise gear, network-attached storage (NAS), and compact business PCs. I’ve used them all, which eventually led me to using NAS for storage alone and some compact PCs as Proxmox cluster nodes, creating the ultimate smart home and self-hosting platform. It all started with a single $80 Dell Vostro, and the home lab grew from there.