There's a NAS out there for every budget and use case, but the more you spend, the more capable your drive will be. You can buy NAS enclosures without any storage at all, or you can choose to upgrade storage (ideally with quality drives designed for use in a NAS) as your needs grow. The term "NAS" refers mostly to the enclosure, which usually has space (known as "bays") for drives. They're always on and can be placed near your router and connected via Ethernet for the best performance. NAS drives are convenient in that they are dedicated devices that you "set and forget" to provide network-based storage. If you have a network-attached storage (NAS) drive, you may be able to install a media server on it and share media that way. An older Intel NUC is also a solid choice and can be found even cheaper on the used market.Ĭonsider Setting Up a Media Server on Your NAS Apple's Mac mini is one of the best mini "PC" options #1 for its reasonable price point, near-silent operation, range of ports, power efficiency, and overall performance. Mini PCs are good choices if you're buying something specifically for use as a media server. In fact, apps like Plex and Kodi have versions made especially for single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi. You won't necessarily need the latest version of Windows or macOS to run many of the most popular media servers. You might be able to give an old laptop new life by using it as a media server or media center. If you depend on transcoding (converting the video on the fly, often required for remote streaming and enabling "burned-in" subtitles), your hardware requirements will be a lot higher.Keyboard and mouse access is nice but not always necessary (use remote access or a web interface instead).It should have plenty of storage available, with room for more if necessary. The server should always be on and connected to the network.There are a few basic things to remember when picking hardware for a media server (or a media center with server capabilities):
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