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Has anyone picked up one of those refurbed dell optiplexes before? I'm thinking of getting one, putting a massive HDD I have in it, and using it to torrent and watch things through kodi.
It seems like the biggest issue is finding that balance of price and specs. I don't need anything fancy but it's always nice to have some headroom for things like emulation
If anyone has, please loop me in on the experience too. They're always recommended as good NAS servers, as they're usually cheap and have fine hardware.
I have heard that it's better to go with a full size one rather than one of those mini/SFFs, as there's more drive bays, so more potential storage capacity and you can more easily put everything into a decent sized RAID array. But if you don't mind just having one giant drive, it should be fine. I think full size ones are easier to modify, but that's just my assumption
Full sized ones should be good as a starter NAS. The potential issue with modifying them is Dell use a lot of proprietary parts like motherboards and power supplies. Otherwise you should be able to use them fine.
I think I'd get an SFF one and just put a big drive in it for movies. It may not be the fastest but SATA should be better than a USB cable for reading data
Both Dell and HP make great micro PCs. I've used both as my work PCs for years (~5 years for the Dell, ~3 years for the HP).
No hesitation recommending either as a file server/media box. Keep in mind they use 2.5" disks, though.
That's why I was thinking an SFF so it can fit a 3.5 in it. After that I could get some micro pcsfor whatever self hosting projects I think of. I saw some Dell micro PCs going for around $69 a while ago