

Running on a synology, but it’s not cheap. I like having direct access to my stuff if I can. Next step is cloud backup of my local , i think borg or something is very popular.
I’m going to say that self hosting becomes a fun hobby once you get your core services running. Core in this case means the services that are bringing you into selfhosting.
I ended up going with a synology Nas as i didn’t need high performance CPU and wanted a turn key solution. For what you get hardware wise, its low value, but if you factor in software and support, it works out to OK value.
You mentioned your parents will be using this. What services are you hoping to host? Outside network access is another rabbit hole.
Check the hardware requirements of the services you plan the host, but from what ir sounds like, you would likely be better served with decent pc 8th gen Intel with the storage in a 4 bay NAS or internal to the PC.
I suggested 8th gen Intel as a min for video transcoding (if needed)