hardware.

The reference guide on Pocket AI: running self-hosted AI agents and local LLMs on Raspberry Pi, Mac Mini, mini PCs, Framework laptops and edge devices. Hardware comparison, agent compatibility, real-world benchmarks, and the manifesto.

Honest hands-on hardware buyer's guide for self-hosted AI agents in 2026. Raspberry Pi 5, Intel NUC and clones, Mac Mini M4, Framework Laptop, Orange Pi 5 Plus — real benchmarks, real bills, concrete recommendations by budget.

When does a GPU actually pay for itself in self-hosted AI inference, and when is a modern CPU genuinely the better answer? Real benchmarks across Mac Mini M4, Intel NUC 13, Raspberry Pi 5, and a single-GPU box. Watts per token, euros per million tokens, and the surprising places CPU wins.

Privacy-first. Local LLMs only. Network egress denied at iptables. AGPL-3.0.

Stripped-down ZeroClaw fork for resource-constrained hosts. Phi-3 mini default, runs comfortably on a Pi 5.

Repairable, modular laptop with strong Linux support. The right choice if you want a portable agent host that doubles as a daily driver.

Sub-€500 mini PC with i7-13620H, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD. The pragmatic alternative to the Intel NUC.

192 GB unified memory ceiling. The local-LLM workstation. Llama 3.3 70B at 22 tok/s. €4,500+.

Premium SBC with 16 GB RAM and the same RK3588 as Orange Pi 5 Plus. Better build, smaller community.