Sure, all automated switches also work as a regular switch. But the whole point of having automated switches is that they do the automatic things you want. So if you have rules that do things like shut lights off at a certain time it would be ugly for that not to work, especially if say you were on vacation when the pc crapped out or got a virus or whatever and you couldn't get to it. Lots of people run HA on a pc and are quite happy. A dedicated controller is just my preference and opinion. I think it is more reliable and dependable - a box that just runs 24x7 with no moving parts, heat issues, updates, virus potential, etc. It will also run > 24 hours on a battery - more than any 'normal' and more expensive UPS will give you - YMMV.