Agree with Nathan here. A lighter power use but more expensive box would take years to make up the “savings” for reduced power usage, if ever.
That being said, I like the HP T620 plus thin clients for tasks like this. They’re about 10-12W avg but have a quad core CPU, real bus and can be expanded. I have several of them for both development and “production” as Docker servers and other HA purposes. I replaced all my underpowered Pi 3B’s with them and they rock.
Thanks for the comparison. I am not really doing this from a cost savings perspective but rather a sustainability one. Thus, I’d pay a bit more if I can reduce some energy consumption. Also, our electricity here is at about USD 0.12 / kWh.
In any case, for now i found a NUC at Geekom for $190, that comes with 8 GB and a 256 GB SSD and the CPU has a TDP of 15W. I will just install HAOS on it and be done. From what i read it should also offer sufficient resources to handle HAOS with a few more complex integrations.
I did look at the HP Thin Clients, they are a good option indeed and i will keep them in mind when adding more components.