Hi,
I started with a raspberry pi but realised it wasn’t gonna cut it. It does work but felt it being sluggish. While window shopping cash converters and cex I came across Dell Optiplex 3050 for £50. I’ve never bought something that quick. Installed HA after following the guide.
Once everything was working I installed tailscale. I can now access HA while I’m away from network.
The pc is powerful enough to run anything you throw at it in HA. Good luck.
Abdul
@akheirax Hey Abdul, thanks for sharing your HA journey! 
That Dell Optiplex 3050 sounds like a solid find for £50 — definitely a step up from the Pi struggle. Tailscale is a nice touch for remote access without the hassle of port forwarding.
Quick thought: since you’re running Home Assistant, you might want to check out Aqara’s newer Thread devices (like the Motion Sensor P2 or Door and Window Sensor P2) if you’re looking to expand your setup. They can connect directly to HA over Thread without needing an Aqara hub, as long as you’ve got a Thread Border Router set up.
Also, if you ever want to bring Aqara Zigbee devices into the mix, the Aqara Hub M3 (or M2/M1S/M100/E1, plus G5 Pro/G3/G410 camera hubs) supports Advanced Bridge functionality — you can expose them to HA via Matter by scanning the hub’s QR code in Home Assistant.
Happy automating! Would love to hear what you’re running on that Optiplex these days.