Choosing a Controller

[nordicnn]

Hello. I am looking to take advantage of the May sale and (finally) choose a HS controller. I don't have a controller now but rather some scattered home automation products such as Hue and Casetta. I'm pretty computer savvy (Windows sysadmin) and have a spare Windows laptop (of recent vintage) laying around.

My thought was to buy the HS3PRO with SmartStick bundle and run it as a virtual machine (rather than directly on the laptop). This would allow me to move it to more powerful hardware down the road.

Does this seem like a good starter plan? I realize I could start with a less expensive version, but I'd rather not run into limits or need to upgrade soon. (I also don't need to spend money unnecessarily but the sale price is acceptable.)

Any feedback welcome.

[sparkman]

Sounds like a great plan.

[alexbk66]

I bought HS Pro when it was 1/2 price. It's kind of obvious choice when you calculate how much it will cost to buy additional S/W i.e. if you need more than 5 plugins, or HSTouch Designer, etc.

And I bought HYSTOU Fanless Mini PC Small Form when it was on sale too (excellent computer).

You don't need VM (especially on old laptop it will be slow). HS has back-up option, so you can back-up your setup and then restore on another PC.

[Guest]

I did something similar, in that I bought one of those inexpensive "Stick" computers with an internal SSDS drive. 32gb is enough storage for HS, and there is no fan or moving parts to make noise. I just connected it to my TV as a monitor, added a hub, keyboard, and mouse, and I am in business. Since I only run the Homeseer server on that computer, it is quite up to the task, and has been solid (as much as Windows can be).

Correct me if I am wrong, but HS Pro's free plugins do not include third party plugins, such as "Easy Trigger". So keep that in mind when doing the cost analysis between Pro and Regular. (But also note that you probably will want Designer at some point, even if you are not interested yet.)

[alexbk66]

I did something similar, in that I bought one of those inexpensive "Stick" computers with an internal SSDS drive. 32gb is enough storage for HS

I bought i7 because I want to use the PC for video surveillance as well, which needs a lot of CPU power. And it wasn't expensive, something like $275 US..

[nordicnn]

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like moving it to a new machine is easy enough and that virtualization is not necessary.

[sparkman]

Thanks for the feedback. It sounds like moving it to a new machine is easy enough and that virtualization is not necessary.

Yes, moving from one Windows system to another is pretty straightforward especially if it's installed in the exact same path. You can also move from Windows to linux, but its not as easy.