Labstack Pick

Labstack Pick

Hardware shortlists for real homelab jobs

Compare mini-PCs and NAS boxes by Proxmox, Home Assistant, Plex, and Jellyfin needs — structured specs, not tab chaos.

Score by job Browse mini-PCs

How we compare

We normalize public vendor specs into the fields that matter for a lab build: CPU, RAM ceiling, networking, and storage paths. Labstack Fit turns those fields into a ranked shortlist per job.

  • Use-case tags for Proxmox, Home Assistant, Plex, and Jellyfin
  • Source links on every product so you can verify SKUs
  • Amazon search placeholders until a verified ASIN is set — never a broken /dp/

Start from the job

Pick the workload first, then open the hardware that fits.

Buyer lanes

Three common paths into the catalog.

Mini-PC matrix

18 models for VMs, HA, and media nodes.

 NAS matrix

6 boxes for storage-first labs.

 Head-to-heads

19 side-by-side compares when you are down to two.

Catalog

Full mini-PC matrix →

A clean list of published models — open any row for specs and availability.

Compare

See matrices →

When you already have two candidates, jump straight to the delta.

Before you buy

Practical checks that save returns and underpowered builds.

  • Confirm RAM ceiling and whether SODIMM is user-upgradeable on the exact SKU.
  • Match NIC speed to your switch — 2.5GbE only helps if the rest of the path keeps up.
  • For Plex/Jellyfin, decide if you need iGPU transcode headroom or mainly direct play.
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