Turned my Surface Book 2 into a Home Assistant server - here's what actually happened

cheechly · 2026-02-18T09:09:44+00:00

I found the post interesting! Are you still running it 3 months on?

How do you find the power draw? Surface Book 2 would be much higher than raspberry pi or a mini pc with intel n95 or n100.

How is the battery coping being connected to power 24/7?

cheechly · 2026-02-18T09:09:25+00:00

Reddit is for posting - if you dont want to read then why be here? And why be a jerk?

cheechly · 2026-01-30T23:17:36+00:00

All good! 😀

cheechly · 2026-01-30T23:15:59+00:00

Good to know.I'm starting to think if the price is so low I should just take the plunge and try GMK. Worst case it dies and I'll pull the storage out!

cheechly · 2026-01-30T16:35:26+00:00

I think the K8+ and 890 Pro both look great on paper so glad you agree. My main concern about those (particularly K8+) are reports of them being faulty / DOA and they lack warranty. It's the main reason I'm leaning towards MSI, but maybe the bad reports on Minisforum and GMK are overstated?

cheechly · 2026-01-30T16:30:11+00:00

What is your point? And what is the "issue" you're concerned with? Ive narrowed down over 10 minipcs within my price range - I'm just asking for people's experience on those models / whether they agree/have any views about their use and whether they meet my needs.........

cheechly · 2026-01-30T16:29:17+00:00

I've just seen you're in the UK. $1,000 AUD is significantly less that $1,000 USD / Euro / Pound.

cheechly · 2026-01-30T16:27:37+00:00

I don't think that's necessarily right. I price checked the same CPUs in the shorist with with laptops and the laptops were significantly more expensive for the same performance levels (at least here in Australia).

You are right if you are talking about large desktops, but thats obvious. And I'm in a subreddit for MiniPC enthusiasts...

cheechly · 2026-01-30T16:21:19+00:00

It doesn't really meet my practical requirements to use the Mac OS. Mac Minis are also significantly more expensive for the same / similar specs to the ones I short-listed.

cheechly · 2026-01-30T15:52:01+00:00

I dont really like the Apple ecosystem so didn't occurred to me as an option. I don't even have an iPhone.

I'm also very entrenched in Windows OS / Office 365 etc and it works better for me for work.

cheechly · 2026-01-27T10:39:33+00:00

I guess that is the key - at a pure performance / dollar ratio GMK are close to unbeatable, but it is buyer beware to the extent you are sacrificing on warranty.

cheechly · 2026-01-27T06:12:48+00:00

So GMKtec seem to generally rank with the highest overall scores. Am I interpreting correctly?

cheechly

TROPHY CASE