Hello, long time lurker, first time poster here. I just got a router recently (unifi dream router), and wanted to start on building a little homelab. I currently live in dorm in my univ with 3 other roommates, so mini pcs looks good to me, they’re not too loud and small enough to live next to my router. I saw a deal on shopee which is a 2018 i3 mac mini, with 3.6GHz, 8gb ram and 128 gigs of storage. it costs 8000 NTD (about 250 in usd), it’s second-handed and has some scratches on it (I kinda don’t mind). Is it worth it, or should I be looking for something cheaper/not mac mini? (ps I live in Taiwan, sellers/things from east asia like china or japan are much preferred, otherwise the shipping might be a lil bit steep for me). thanks, appreciate all helps.
I like Mac Minis in general, but for a first homelab machine I’d choose something with 2+ NICs, without using USB dongles.
May I ask why you need 2 NiCs for home labs?