Beyond Raspberry Pi: Why Used Mini PCs (HP/Lenovo) Make Better Budget Home Servers

Raspberry Pi boards still get most of the attention in hobbyist circles, but plenty of builders switch to used corporate mini PCs once their workloads move past simple GPIO projects. The difference shows up fast in sustained performance, hardware acceleration, and real ownership costs once RAM, storage, and transcoding enter the mix.

Used Market Pricing Snapshot

Current listings make 16 GB configurations with SSDs already installed look like the sweet spot.

These machines usually ship with NVMe drives, dual SODIMM slots, and sometimes a Windows license that converts cleanly to Proxmox or Debian.

Power Draw in Context

Idle power is the objection most people raise first. Actual measurements narrow the gap quickly.

• Raspberry Pi 5 (8 GB): 2.7–3.6 W idle, 8.8–11.6 W under load
• HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini: 6–12 W idle, 37–54 W load
• Lenovo M720q: 5–10 W idle, 30–68 W load

At $0.30/kWh, the yearly difference between a Pi 5 and a tuned G4 Mini stays under $25. For that small premium you get Quick Sync, multiple drive bays, and 4–8× the CPU performance.

RAM and Storage Expansion Limits

Both the HP EliteDesk 800 G4 Mini and Lenovo M720q officially support 32 GB (2×16 GB DDR4-2666 SODIMMs), and many users run 64 GB without issues. Storage flexibility matters more for homelab work:

• HP G4 Mini: two M.2 2280 NVMe slots plus a 2.5-inch bay (3.5-inch adapters work too)
• Lenovo M720q: one M.2 NVMe plus one 2.5-inch bay, though the two sometimes share PCIe lanes

These layouts handle TrueNAS Scale with external DAS or simple ZFS mirrors without the HAT stacking and power headaches common on the Pi.

Workload Performance on Actual Deployments

Users running mixed services see consistent results. An i5-8500T EliteDesk handles Plex 4K transcoding via Quick Sync, Frigate with a Coral TPU in the Wi-Fi slot, Home Assistant, and several lightweight VMs at roughly 40 W total. The Pi 5 does fine with basic Docker stacks or Home Assistant OS, but anything heavier usually means external USB NVMe enclosures and workarounds for GPU acceleration.

Most people treat the two platforms as complementary. They keep a Pi 5 for low-power monitoring while the mini PC runs the heavier services.

Decision Framework

Stick with the Pi 5 when your workload stays under 5 W and you need GPIO or camera interfaces. Move to a used HP or Lenovo mini PC once any of these requirements appear:

• Hardware-accelerated 1080p or 4K transcoding
• Multiple simultaneous VMs or containers
• More than 8 GB RAM with room to grow
• Native SATA or dual NVMe without adapters

At current used prices, the mini PC usually wins on capability per dollar once you add up Pi accessories, cases, and power supplies.

Used corporate mini PCs close the performance gap that once made the Raspberry Pi the default choice for general-purpose home servers. With idle power within a small multiple of the Pi 5, better I/O, and Quick Sync, they deliver more capable 24/7 systems at similar or lower total cost.

To get started with Debian on one of these boxes, run the usual first steps after install:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install htop lm-sensors -y
sensors

For Proxmox, the ISO route is cleaner, but you can still tune the host afterward with similar tools to keep power draw in check.