My server is an extremely quiet Xeon workstation: unlike 1U servers, workstation are typically quiet. The good thing with a Xeon workstation is that it supports ECC RAM only and there are plenty used. For there's no market for used Xeon systems, so you can find stuff like 22-cores / 44-threads CPUs for $25 or something.

Some mod Xeon systems to use regular PC PSU like Be Quiet! ones and Noctua fans, etc. but my HP Z440 workstation is so quiet already I didn't need to.

In my case it's an headless server and is sits between the vacuum cleaner and the cat's food: there are literally only two cables connected to it, the power cable and the ethernet cable.

I can live with the footprint of one tower.

I run many VMs and containers inside those VMs: Git server, pastebin, NAS, containerized/VM-isolated AI agents, etc. but I don't need it to be up 24/7. I basically only need those when I'm working. So electricity usage ain't a big concern to me as it's more like running 8/7.

I don't feel like I'm commuting in a pickup truck: I feel like I have the perfect machine for the task.

Where can you buy a workstation like that for so little?

Modern dell desktops (like 8th gen+) idle around 10W. Raspberry pi isn’t saving much

I’m impressed with that.

I had a Nuc 9 extreme with a 10gb SFP card in it.

It averaged 69w. The Mac Mini I replaced it with uses just under 5w.

A Mini is possible the worst bang for buck. Also, the horror that that is Desktop Docker can’t be over emphasised. I know there are better ways of using Docker on a Mac, but having got something working I can’t face rebuilding it.

My home router is a Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny with a Core i3-8100T with a dual 10Gbit SFP in it (1x DAC, 1x 10GBase-T) and it idles at 14W, routing 10gbit full bore 24W. I got it for $80

I also have some Fujitsu office machine I picked up for $50 as my "I need to run some random task on a physical linux box" machine with an i5-7500 and it idles at 15W

Some of those SFP cards can use quite a bit of energy on their own. They're not designed with energy efficiency in mind.

I've got an Optiplex with an i5 and two hard drives and that idles around 12W when idling.

But when starting from scratch, it might be better to get an older Mini that is supported by Asahi and run Linux on it.

What's wrong with Docker desktop? Been using it everyday for at least 5 years.

It’s sluggish, it’s incredibly bloated with all the services that Docker (the company) wants to sell you and the UI is badly designed.

OrbStack is my go-to when it comes to running docker on Mac. It also uses macOS native containerization APIs so containers will be a bit more performant than they would (at least use to) be on Docker Desktop.

Another good approach if you’re fine without a GUI or want to bring your own is just ‚brew install docker‘.

The main gotcha I encountered with orbstack was with pulling down internally built amd64 images and trying to run them on apple silicon. I just remember constantly running into issues and going back to docker desktop as a result, even if their solution is janky in its own way.

I'll check it out. Yes, no UI needed. I run Docker Desktop but I don't think I've used the UI more than on ce.

Trying to get it to open on startup and start containers in a particular order is a little finicky. But the real hell is trying to get it to start containers after the network shares have connected.

I’ve got it working, but compared to doing it in compose, it’s awful.

Not much, it's an "I use arch btw" kind of thing but for docker.

I made calculations and got the same results. Bought low profile and as a server

also factoring in spare hardware. most people have more spare phones than PCs.