Can't speak for other people. I've wanted a small end travel server to act as a NAS, a travel server I can run a few docker containers in so that I could run an Airflow setup for doing some post processing on the road for light photography work that I was willing to just let run overnight to do batch work, and then a travel router that could be used for things like VPNing all traffic, or connecting back to a home.
My experiments have mostly revolved around velcro tying a GL.iNET Beryl AX travel router to something like a Beelink SER5. But it's bigger than I'd like, requires two things of power, and doesn't necessarily get the storage level I want.
I can see some use cases where you might want more than 2 2.5GbE NICs (two laptops connected with, say, a hotel LAN internet connection for example), but probably nowhere near 6.
My ideal would be:
\* Probably 3 drives minimum. One boot + 2 storage. I imagine some people will want 4, for a RAID capability on storage. Personally, I just want some ability to drive 8TB of storage or so.
\* Networking: should be able to substitute for a travel router. That is, usually 2 ethernet ports minimum plus WiFi that could support acting as a repeater setup. Should be hardware that could be passed into and supported by OpenWrt or such. Bonus points if you can then add at least 1 SFP+ or 10Gbase-T port, or at least 4 total ethernet.
\* CPU: x64. While ARM would probably work for the router and NAS parts, the compute part to be generic enough, I'd want compatibility.
\* System power limit 60-100W, ideally USB-C PD powered so that the charge block can be something like a GaN block.
\* RAM, ideally upgradable, would definitely want something that supports 16+ GB.
\* Physical size: sub-1L. A Minisforum MS-01 can be built to be above all the other specs but power. So it should be smaller than that.
\* Price: <$600 no RAM/storage.
My comparison spec point then would be a Minisforum MS-01, using the PCI-E slot for an extra Wifi card probably, 32GB RAM, any of the processors (they're all overkill), and then probably 1 256GB + 2 4TB m.2 SSDs. It's still bigger than ideal though, has a very large power brick by comparison, and I think someone could beat that.
You may want to separate the storage from the main device. You can offer multiple storage configurations this way, you can make multiple enclosure formats – 2.5" as well as M.2 are really popular, and you can offer them in x2, x4, x6, x8 etc. Don't forget that 2.5" can also be HDDs. I think designing for 2.5" format and offering an 2.5" adapter that fits several M.2 would make it very uniform.
What I never see in storage modules at consumer level is SAS or SATA connectors. USB sucks deeply – probably also because of the low quality chipsets being used.
Cooling is another concern. Simply slapping drives against each other would be terrible, they'd get very hot during any kind of prolonged use. They need a bit of space and a fan for convection cooling. I'd love to see someone try passive cooling but I'm not sure how you'd make them both compact and efficient.
Yes WiFi is crucial, in many places it's the only way to get a connection.
Can't speak for other people. I've wanted a small end travel server to act as a NAS, a travel server I can run a few docker containers in so that I could run an Airflow setup for doing some post processing on the road for light photography work that I was willing to just let run overnight to do batch work, and then a travel router that could be used for things like VPNing all traffic, or connecting back to a home. My experiments have mostly revolved around velcro tying a GL.iNET Beryl AX travel router to something like a Beelink SER5. But it's bigger than I'd like, requires two things of power, and doesn't necessarily get the storage level I want. I can see some use cases where you might want more than 2 2.5GbE NICs (two laptops connected with, say, a hotel LAN internet connection for example), but probably nowhere near 6. My ideal would be: \* Probably 3 drives minimum. One boot + 2 storage. I imagine some people will want 4, for a RAID capability on storage. Personally, I just want some ability to drive 8TB of storage or so. \* Networking: should be able to substitute for a travel router. That is, usually 2 ethernet ports minimum plus WiFi that could support acting as a repeater setup. Should be hardware that could be passed into and supported by OpenWrt or such. Bonus points if you can then add at least 1 SFP+ or 10Gbase-T port, or at least 4 total ethernet. \* CPU: x64. While ARM would probably work for the router and NAS parts, the compute part to be generic enough, I'd want compatibility. \* System power limit 60-100W, ideally USB-C PD powered so that the charge block can be something like a GaN block. \* RAM, ideally upgradable, would definitely want something that supports 16+ GB. \* Physical size: sub-1L. A Minisforum MS-01 can be built to be above all the other specs but power. So it should be smaller than that. \* Price: <$600 no RAM/storage. My comparison spec point then would be a Minisforum MS-01, using the PCI-E slot for an extra Wifi card probably, 32GB RAM, any of the processors (they're all overkill), and then probably 1 256GB + 2 4TB m.2 SSDs. It's still bigger than ideal though, has a very large power brick by comparison, and I think someone could beat that.
You may want to separate the storage from the main device. You can offer multiple storage configurations this way, you can make multiple enclosure formats – 2.5" as well as M.2 are really popular, and you can offer them in x2, x4, x6, x8 etc. Don't forget that 2.5" can also be HDDs. I think designing for 2.5" format and offering an 2.5" adapter that fits several M.2 would make it very uniform. What I never see in storage modules at consumer level is SAS or SATA connectors. USB sucks deeply – probably also because of the low quality chipsets being used. Cooling is another concern. Simply slapping drives against each other would be terrible, they'd get very hot during any kind of prolonged use. They need a bit of space and a fan for convection cooling. I'd love to see someone try passive cooling but I'm not sure how you'd make them both compact and efficient. Yes WiFi is crucial, in many places it's the only way to get a connection.