Our recommendation by job
| Your main job | Start with | The reason |
|---|---|---|
| Dedicated Home Assistant or a few light services | A complete refurbished business mini PC | Keep the purchase cost down; reserve money for backups and required accessories |
| Jellyfin that must convert video | A newer Intel N100/N150-class platform | Media support matters more here than an older CPU's i5/i7 badge |
| Several virtual machines | A configuration with enough RAM for the guests and host | Price the memory and storage you will actually need before choosing used or new |
| Replacing a working server just to save electricity | Measure the existing server first | A small saving in watts can take years to repay the purchase |
Our catalogue starting comparisons are the Dell 3060 Micro for a low-cost dedicated service and the AIR12 Lite N150 for a newer media platform. These are buying judgements based on specifications, not benchmark winners.
1. Turn the headline price into a usable price
Write down these five amounts for each candidate:
- PC price including VAT. If the tax treatment is unclear, resolve it before comparing totals.
- Missing RAM or SSD. “Barebones” means you need to check what is absent; never compare that price directly with a populated machine.
- Power adapter, mains lead and delivery. Include them even if the seller lists them as options.
- Immediate upgrades. Price the memory and storage you need on day one, not a hypothetical maximum you may never use.
- Electricity over your ownership period. Use the calculator with measured power or several clearly labelled assumptions.
Keep warranty and repair risk alongside the total as a separate judgement. Do not invent a precise repair allowance without evidence.
2. Check whether the premium pays back
Here is an illustrative three-year comparison. The prices and wattages are invented examples, not measurements or offers for the linked machines. Both run continuously at 25p/kWh.
| Cost | Used PC | New PC |
|---|---|---|
| Complete purchase | £150.00 | £250.00 |
| Assumed average socket power | 15W | 10W |
| Three years of electricity | £98.55 | £65.70 |
| Purchase plus electricity | £248.55 | £315.70 |
The used PC costs £67.15 less over three years. The new one saves only £32.85 in electricity during that time. Its £100 premium takes about 9.1 years to recover from power savings alone.
Choose the new PC if a feature or warranty is worth the remaining premium to you. In this example, lower electricity use alone does not repay it within three years.
3. Know when to pay more—and when to walk away
Pay for a newer media platform when you need conversion. Jellyfin's current guidance warns new buyers about declining support for older Intel integrated-graphics toolkits. Read the playback guide before treating an old i7 as an upgrade over a newer low-cost processor.
Pay for a clear upgrade path when you will use it. For a planned 32GB setup, ask whether a 16GB offer contains one 16GB module or two 8GB modules. On a two-slot machine, that changes whether you can add memory or need to replace it.
Reject an offer when a necessary detail remains unanswered. Examples: locked BIOS for a Home Assistant install, an unconfirmed final tax-inclusive price, or an unclear RAM limit when your workload needs more than the included memory. Choose another listing rather than buying around an assumption.
Sources and review date
Source dates are listed below. Recommendations are our editorial judgement; we have not physically tested these machines.
- Jellyfin: current hardware selection guidance ↗ · 8 Sept 2026