How easy has it become to spin up a sleeping linux desktop in response to something monitored by a very-low-power SBC or laptop? - Occasional decent performance

How easy has it become to spin up a sleeping linux desktop in response to something monitored by a very-low-power SBC or laptop? - Occasional decent performance box spun up only as needed - but reliably? ... looking into this thread from 3 months ago: Making a Linux home server sleep on idle and wake on demand – the simple way (dgross.ca) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35627107 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35627107 Except I remember it now: that seemed just a bit overly involved. Any simpler? ... And another one from 4 months ago: Using Wake on LAN (WOL) Across the Internet (2010) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35447094 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35447094 where one answer seemed to be to use a smart plug. Simpler.