Something that I absolutely love are little computers—mini servers and mini PCs that I can throw into a home lab, mount behind a TV, or even roll out in a workplace when you need something small, neat, and cost-effective. In this video I break down my top 3 mini servers for a 2025 home lab, and I go through what actually matters: ports, expandability, pricing, and what you can realistically run on each one. I cover the GMKtec (Knockbox) G3 as the “super cheap” option that still surprised me—yes, virtualization tech is in the BIOS and it actually boots ESXi, which is wild for the price. Then I jump into the Protectli Vault style box with four Ethernet ports, fanless cooling, and a setup that’s basically begging to be a tiny VMware host for a pool of VMs. Finally, I talk about the ZimaBoard 2—heavier, sturdier, more capable than the previous version—with SATA ports for drives, PCIe expansion for extra NICs (even 10Gb), and those awesome dual 2.5GbE ports. The takeaway: pick based on your use case—cheap virtualization, networking-focused labbing, or a modular “mini server” you can grow into.