Buy a used/refurbished enterprise server – This is the solution I’ve been leaning towards almost from the start. If I order smart, the right refurbished enterprise-grade server with a few extra parts would hit the sweet spot in terms of storage, processor horsepower, RAM, power efficiency, extensibility, and best of all, cost. Based on my projected needs and growth and research I’ve done, a refurbished rack-mount server will more than likely be the first major addition to my home lab. Through the proper use of software, I should also be able to leverage the same hardware running my VMs as my NAS, at less than the cost of a “pro-sumer” NAS or ground-up desktop build.