I used pFSense for years until Netgate took over. That is when I switched to OPNSense (maybe 2019/2020, don’t remember excatly). Since then, I’ve had OPNSense (runnign on a Lenovo m720q tiny) and Unifi (APs and UNVR) for wireless and cameras. I like this setup, it gives me all the advanced routing features I want and have become accustomed. I’m sure Unifi routers are good for most use cases and would have the added convenience of one interface for everything. However, I’ve not been impressed with price to performance ratios for their past offerings (ie. the routing capabilities of OPNsense with an i5 CPU and option for swapping a quad port 1gbe nic to a dual port 10gbe nic) is hard to compete against. That said, the UDM-SE looks interesting.

I’m running two Lenovo Tiny PCs with the 5650ge for my kids to play minecraft and Fall Guys (can connect them to the VESA mounts on the back of the monitor). This opens up a whole new level of gaming in that micro form factor.

Ubiquity has always felt a bit shoddy and hacked together. Reminds me of the bad USB sticks in the NVR or the shitty G4 doorbells that would die after 18-24 months from a bad converter board.

Lol, I ran a very simple pfsense box on a R710 for years. The most expensive router I’ve ever had (due to power costs).

Damn, this hits hard in your mid 30s.

Yep, I have a 3000va unit in my main basement rack. I had to run a 30A circuit for it.

The cheapest solution, assuming you have a drill, a small jab saw, a measuring tape, an optional stud finder, and some sort of fishing line, is to run it in the wall. Then the only cost is the Ethernet cable, which is super cheap in bulk. You could do finished keystone jacks on both ends to make it look nice, but they aren’t necessary.

Next to that the next cheapest is probably an old wifi router or AP to pipe the Ethernet from the poweredge into and then a wifi card in your computer.

Power line adapters are also an option.

Wow, that’s cool. Is that an Intel based nic, driver support is good?

Lol

The m700 is a fine box, but doesn’t have the PCIe slot for an add in nic. This would limit it’s utility as a router box. Even a m720q with a pentium would work well as a router box.

A Lenovo m720q with a PCIe riser for your NIC. Try to get on with the 8th gen i5. These typically go for ~$100USD on hardwareswap, and a bit more in ebay.