For a small lab, even your home PC could be enough, but it depends on what you want to test. Do you need to run a single ESXi server? If so, a VMware Workstation will do the trick. Once you get serious, however, you might encounter problems with the resources of your home PC.

Today, traditional home PCs might have 16 GB of memory, with some more expensive configurations having up to 32 GB. To run a single vCenter Server appliance, you will need 10 GB of memory. If you require additional ESXi servers, nested virtual machines, vRealize Operations, or even NSX, you will reach the resource limits quite quickly.

The advantages of using a Desktop PC are as follows:

• They are cheap
• They are often already available
• There is no need for additional infrastructure

The disadvantage of using a Desktop PC is that you will often not have enough resources available for more complex setups.