Mini PC vs. NAS: I’ve used both in my homelab for 8 years, but there’s only one I’d recommend to beginners

I’ve been running a homelab for about eight years now, and during that time I’ve used both mini PCs and NAS systems for all kinds of workloads. I’ve also gone through several generations of Mini PCs and NAS. After all that experimentation, there is one I would recommend to most people starting their first homelab.