[ocdtrekkie]

The only real reason to rack mount at home is organization: If you have a firewall, switch, router, a server, a NAS, and a backup battery, it's really nice and clean to enclose it all in a rack.

However, rack equipment will always cost more than non-rack equipment because rack equipment isn't targeted for consumers. An APC UPS that fits in a rack is $500, when the equivalent standalone one is $150.

Noise is another downside to rack equipment: It's designed to run in rooms with massive air conditioners, so the noise floor they're trying to stay under is "sports stadium".

[ska]

> when the equivalent standalone one is $150.

There often aren't actual equivalents available in consumer, so it's hard to get an apples-to-apples comparison. Which isn't to say a consumer grade piece of kit won't be fine for your use, just that you aren't paying $500 vs $150 for "the same thing", rather the $500 one has a bunch of feature and/or component quality stuff you may not care about (and some extra margin, but nothing like 200% you suggest)