@swuk
Runes TDLR
Runes is to Bitcoin, like Base is to Ethereum.
A decent laptop and about a 1TB of space is all you need to run a node or you can use the XVerse wallet.
Having a node is just the fastest way to mint.
Here's a decent tutorial on how to get setup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRy2z64siZE&t=455s