Hardware recommendations?

Plex Media Server
1

Can anyone suggest some recommendations on hardware for my plex server or where to find some? I’ve been running in on Ubuntu on a very old laptop (12 years old!) for a long time now with the media storage on a synology NAS. That works fine in general but obviously has some transcoding limitations and if more than one family member is watching it starts to choke a little.

I don’t want to break the bank, but I don’t mind spending a few hundred. I’m intrigued by the mini computers but I don’t know what specs I’d really need to get where I want to go. At this point, I don’t do any 4k stuff although I also don’t want to make it impossible in the future.

Any suggestions/pointers are greatly appreciated!

2

I just moved my server from my nas to a HP S01(Ubuntu) with an i5-10400. I added a little ram and an nvme ssd. Works great and can transcode a couple of 4k hdr streams in igpu if needed.

3

I really like the i5-xx400t’s. Very low power, lots of cores. The 12xxx series isn’t ready for prime time on Ubuntu yet. But the 11400t is awesome. The 11400 runs at 65w while the 11400t is at 35w. Awesome performance for the wattage. The iGPU’s are identical except for a 100mhz advantage to the 11400. But at nearly half the power, its a not inconsiderable long term savings.