Looking at a few N150 based mini PCs for some home server virtualisation, like Beelink EQ14 for example. They don’t specify the NIC.
Then I see other boxes like these ( https://www.amazon.co.uk/MNBOXCONET-N150-Firewall-SFP-Appliance/ ) that have Intel based NICs (2 x 2.5GbE and 2 x 10GbE SFP+ ports).
I will probably connect the device to a NAS on the 10GbE network and run Immich, something like Plex, HomeAssistant, and a handful of other light enough services.
Generally, yes.
Also depends on OS support, Windows less important as Realtek seems to work OK, but Linux and BSD are not always great with Realtek.
What’s in the Beelink ones I wonder? Didn’t say on the spec sheet. I’ll look it up later if ye don’t know.
I found a website that performed a review of this mini PC and they claim it is using a Realtek RTL8168/8111 Ethernet controller. Beelink EQ14 Mini-PC in test - A first Intel N150 shows up, but not quite as expected | Page 3 | igor´sLAB
Ya, figured if it was Intel NIC they would say it. Still might be good for just general home usage for Home Assistant, PIHole, and not performance stuff. They are far cheaper too than the more server looking mini PCs.
Here’s what I can tell you as second hand experience. A friend of mine has been running a Beelink mini computer as a game server for years running 24x7 and has had no issues. They seem very stable.
Ya, I’ve heard lots of good things about them, especially in the home server space. I think if I was to make a better home server I’d probably build an ITX build with some spare parts; like I have a Ryzen 7 3700x and 16GB 3600MHz RAM lying around so I’d use that as a base. Thing is, I really don’t think I need anything more than a decent enough mini pc with an N150 processor or similar.