So I am brand new to homelab using a laptop from 2010 that I am running proxmox with VMs (home assistant, virtual desktop and docker container utilizing portainer). I think scraping by is an understatement. I want to find a mini pc that I will set up the same way (boot into proxmox), and would like to add NAS. I do not care on model, but would like to spend around $100-150 for something use. Are there minimum system requirements that I should look for so that I don’t need to update in a year or so?
Personally I like the Dell Optiplex Micros. You can scoop up a 7040 or 3040/3050 pretty cheap. I found mine refurbed on Craigslist for like $70 a pop and put together an HA cluster. As far as specs go, as long as your chip supports virtualization for Proxmox, you should be fine. Everything else is pretty much up to you.