alt Hacker NewsThe selling point for the people in the Plex community is the N100/N150 include Intel’s Quicksync which gives you video hardware transcoding without a dedicated video card. It’ll handle 3 to 4 4K transcoded streams.
There are several sub $150 units that allow you to upgrade the ram, limited to one 32gb stick max. You can use an nvme to sata adapter to add plenty of spinning rust or connect it to a das.
While I wouldn’t throw any vms on these, you have enough headroom for non-ai home sever apps.
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We’ve been able to buy used OptiPlex 3060 or 3070’s for about $100 for years now and they tick all the boxes for Plex and QuickSync. Only two NVME and one SATA slot though, so maybe not ideal for a NAS but definitely fits the power and thermal profile, and it’s nice to reuse perfectly good hardware.
The device I linked below (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006369887180.html) has a XEON, ECC, 2xNVMe, SATA, 2.5GBit and everything else you need in a very small box.
Intel also means it has QuickSync, so you won't need to buy a N150. However, I tend to be sceptic about these aliexpress-boxes, too. Reliable server manufacturers, like Dell, HP, Lenovo or Fujitsu (RIP) are way more reliable.