Used and refurbished mini PCs are everywhere online, and Dell’s Optiplex family of tiny office drone desktops might be the most numerous simply thanks to the sheer number of these computers out in the wild that have been cycled down through business customers and reached the end of the line with refurbishers.
These computers are perfect for the emerging age of self-hosting. They’re small, quiet, and even ones as far back as the Intel Sandy Bridge era have plenty of CPU power to spare for common self-hosting uses, though you really should go with Haswell or later if possible. The RAM and storage are upgradable, there’s lots of IO, and with a good deal they’re not that far off the cost of a Single-Board computer, but with much more performance and flexibility. What sorts of apps could you self-host with one, two, or even three of these mini PCs? I think you’ll be surprised.
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With all the issues around streaming services, more people are deciding to simply self-host media to watch at home. You can convert your own physical media library to digital files, or use DRM-free video files you’ve purchased. Software like Plex, Jellyfin, or Emby run great on these mini PCs. While it’s not a Dell, I’ve been running a Plex server on a similar Lenovo mini PC with an old dual-core Intel CPU in it, and the results have been flawless. Even with 4K streams.
You can use software like Immich to create what’s effectively a self-hosted service like Google Photos. You can also use openmediavault turn any 64-bit x86 mini PC with at least 1GB of RAM into a NAS.
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Home automation and smart-home control centers
I’ve always said that a real smart home is one that works without the internet. With the self-hosting revolution in full swing, you also have the option of turning these old Dell Optiplex mini PCs into local smart home management systems. Home Assistant is the star here, and you also have the option to use devices like USB Zigbee dongles to give you mini PC direct control of your smart home without Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
Personal productivity and “replace the SaaS” apps
I don’t know about you, but I can’t imagine going back to a world of offline productivity. I’m talking services like Google Docs, and even offline apps like Microsoft Word and open-source options like OnlyOffice have some sort of cloud functionality. So why not self-host your own productivity apps?
For example, Paperless-ngx is like your own version of Google Drive. It lets you organize, store, and search your documents. You can edit the document with the app of your choice, and then upload it to your Paperless-ngx server.
If you’re a software developer doing it as a hobby or passion, you can use an old Optiplex mini PC to self-host Gitea. This lets you manage Git repositories for your software locally, without paying for or using Github.
Lightweight web services and fun extras
There are numerous lite web services you can self-host on these little PCs, some of which are pretty niche, but once you try them you’ll probably want to keep them.
You might have heard of Pi-hole which started out as software designed for the Raspberry Pi, letting it act as a network-wide ad-blocker. However, you don’t actually need a Raspberry Pi to use the service. You can install it on a mini PC, point your router at it, and enjoy no ads on anything connected to your LAN.
Everyone thinks of video streaming when I mention self-hosting a media server, but using apps like Calibre and Komga, you can even create your own ebook, comic, and manga server. All you need is a compatible ereader or client application, and everyone in your home can access your self-hosted collection
Then there’s the fun stuff, like hosting your own local game servers. Many current and especially classic PC games let you host your own server. So, for example, you can set up a Minecraft server for your kids and their friends, which you know is safe because you control who has access to it.
I think people are clearly catching on to the fact that these old mini PCs are capable of so much, that it won’t be long before demand for them goes up. So, it’s best to grab an old Optiplex or other similar mini PC before those bargain prices become a thing of the past.
