were any of the machines “tiny’s” ?? The question with option 2 is if the card and cable will fit in the tight space.

I’d be running everything under proxmox to isolate each application. I have a very similar Nuc8 and run Home Assistant supervised under proxmox which installs and runs smoothly…as well as windows 11 and Ventura hackintosh VM’s…plus lots of other stuff. (note: I just bought a used M720q to use as a homelab in another location…and will put in an internal dual 2.5g NIC card)