I recently switched from Proxmox to Debian Bookworm with Incus(LXD fork) as my primary setup, it's been a pleasant experience. I also like the idea of using something like Cockpit to manage VMs though haven't come to a need yet for a VM over a container. I'll also point out that Incus can handle VMs as well.
Stéphane Graber, Project leader of Linux Containers is also on the fediverse and responds to questions often.
~53 W
Server:
Mini PC: Beelink S12 N95
8 port unmanaged TP Link switch
I would like to expand my storage, however I don't have any available SATA ports and I believe adding an HBA would increase the idle draw about 8 W. I might just upgrade the SSDs and split the storage between the HDDs and SSDs.