Moved into a new house a few weeks ago, and although I noticed the equipment during our showing/inspection/etc. I never really fooled with taking a deep dive into all of it. Looks like I have 4 bullet cameras and 2 WAP's that are all hard-wired with one single drop point in a closet. There is however no other hardware, just the ethernet cables zip tied together.

I don't have any experience with this equipment. Previous home was all "Ring" based security. A quick internet search and some help from AI seems to suggest I could order something like the Dream Machine Special Edition: Link and it would pretty much be plug and play. Currently using XFinity's XFi Gateway Modem for internet if that helps.

Any insights from someone who has used this equipment or tips/tricks would be appreciated. TIA!

The Dream Machine SE only has 2 PoE ports, so you will have to get some flavor of PoE switch to go with whatever gateway you buy. The Dream Machine is also made to be rack mounted. If you don't have a rack, i would go with either the Dream Router of the Cloud Gateway Max and a PoE Switch.

The bullet cameras pull ~4W and the APs (depending on the model) probably pull 10-15W each. So that PoE switch with the 60W power supply should be able to run all all the equipment you currently have. Any further expansion would probably require some add-ons

The Dream Router comes with a 64gb Micro SD to record your cameras, which can be swapped out for something bigger. The Cloud Gateway Max takes an NVMe drive. You can choose from 512gb, 1tb, 2tb, or no storage and add your own drive. If you go with the no drive option, it does not come with the drive tray, so you have to order that separately.

My bad. You're correct.

Well now OP's got some alternative options. lol

I don't really plan on adding additional equipment so think I am going to go ahead and order the DMSE. I appreciate the responses. This is a little more high tech than my prior setup. Just glad the previous homeowner did all the leg work on the wiring.

Hey! I have the UDM-SE - I recently did a full new install in my house with it, a bunch of cameras, etc.

It's a very easy and intuitive system to use, and very powerful if you want to take advantage of everything.

I grabbed a 12TB HDD for it:
WD Purple Pro - 12TB Surveillance Hard Drive SKU: WD122PURP

Setup was quick and painless.
ATT fiber line runs to ATT Fiber modem, Cat6 between modem and UDM-SE, then out to your AP's.
I already had a Netgear Orbi970 and satellite (was buying the UDM-SE for cameras), so I turned my Orbi's into APs only and took over routing with the UDM.

I have two ubiquiti poe switches (8 and 16 ports) for sale if you need one.

Yea I'm hoping to have the DMSE in the closet and the modem out in the room as shown (purchasing some king of box to hide it). There's two separate drops running to those jacks.

Why have any of it out in the open?

I disconnected my fiber drop from its wall box, pulled it back into the attic, and dropped it through a conduit pipe from the attic into the closet.

Everything is hidden now.

Good point. I could be less lazy and re-route it.

My man! Appreciate it.

You can also get the Ubiquiti cable modem. I did that with my Xfinity.