Beginner Advice - Seedbox

[Archiee]

I've been using torrents and newsgroups for many years. That said I'm a beginner here. After a few Comcast nasty grams I built a Linux VM using VMware (actually two of them). I have a VPN from PIA running and there is a kill switch to shut down Transmission if the VPN drops. I use RARBG for the most part although, if looking for something really obscure I may use ThePirateBay. I'm unfamiliar with "private torrents". I always keep my ratios up. 

I'm now on the road so don't have a persistent Internet connection and a seedbox is the obvious answer. I still have, and run, my VMware server but it's far from ideal with flaky WiFi. I don't use Plex and don't expect to be streaming. My current VM's have 300GB HDD's although my library is much larger. I'm thinking 300GB is OK and 500GB would be better. I think I want unlimited bandwidth... or at least I'm not aware of how much I use. 100Mbps seems slow and 1GbE seems desired, 10GbE is overkill. I do know Linux, I'm not an expert but I know my way around. 

Not sure if I need OpenVPN (Private Internet Access) on a seedbox. I wouldn't mind it but then I'd need special firewall rules (to only route torrent traffic over the tunnel and making sure SSH or similar access traffic always goes to the core machine). Not knowing private trackers nor having any accounts I imagine I'll be using public trackers. I'm assuming private trackers, assuming I could get one, would have a more limited library.

It looks like I can get decent machines for $10-$15/Mo but there seems to be differences in pre-installed applications. On my VM's I just install whatever I'd like, whenever I'd like, so I don't know how using a seedbox changes that. I mean, is a seedbox more, or different, than just a Linux VM? 

I know that was a ton of questions... the good news is you needn't answer them, although any help is appreciated. I was more interested in getting any suggestions for a seedbox to get started. Most of my questions will be answered by trying things out but I'd like to start out on the right foot. 

Thank you very much for any help. Have a great day.