Totally new to Home Assistant and overwhelmed. Help?

It's 2026 and I'm essentially starting brand new. When buying IoT devices, which protocols to look out for and use even though Home Assistant supports them?

The number of options is overwhelming me. I'm just getting started with self-hosting and I have an Intel N150 mini PC to play with. Am I assuming this is more than fast enough to get me started? The goal is to install Proxmix and then virtualize Home Assistant. Or should I install it on bare metal like with OPNsense?

The household uses a combination of iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac devices.

The entire home is blanketed with WiFi 7.

If you guys have any resources for me to read and ease my transition that would be great!