Video summary

Building Cheap & Efficient Home Servers with... Laptops?

Main summary

Key takeaways

Technology

Summary (Technological Focus)

The video explores building an inexpensive home lab/server setup using three old laptops instead of dedicated desktop server hardware. The core idea is that laptops designed for long battery life can also be surprisingly power-efficient when repurposed as always-on servers.

Motivation / Why Use Laptops for Home Servers

  • Common viewer suggestion: People repeatedly ask about converting laptops into home servers.
  • Budget constraints: Server hardware is expensive, so using old laptops (or cheap ones with defects like broken/bad batteries or screens) can reduce upfront cost.
  • The build also mentions a cheap gigabit network switch and a 3D-printed stand to keep the lab organized.

Hardware used (and what matters)

1) Dell Latitude 7390 (Primary Proxmox/Compute)

  • CPU: Intel i7-8650U (8th gen, 4-core/8-thread; boost up to 4.2 GHz)
  • RAM: DDR4 (initially 8 GB; later upgraded)
  • Storage/Expansion:
    • 1× M.2 NVMe slot (PCIe Gen3 x4) for SSD
    • M.2 E-key slot for Wi‑Fi/cellular; supports PCIe, but NVMe via adapter would be single-lane and may block the case without modification
  • Network: Gigabit Ethernet
  • Key reason chosen: a more modern CPU that enables very low idle power compared with the Macs.

2) MacBook Pro 13” (TrueNAS Storage After Swapping Parts)

  • CPU: i5-3210M (3rd gen, hyperthreaded dual-core)
  • Noted as more flexible (“hackable”) for storage/RAM than many newer laptops:
    • RAM upgradeable
    • HDD replaced with SSD
    • Optical drive bay can be swapped via adapter to add a second SSD/HDD
  • Later became the main TrueNAS platform after moving storage/RAM from the 15” model to it.

3) MacBook Pro 15” (Tested First for TrueNAS, Then Moved Away)

  • CPU: i7-3615QM (4-core/8-thread)
  • GPU: Nvidia GT 650M (suspected to increase power use)
  • Supports second storage via optical drive adapter.
  • Major issue encountered: when closing the lid, the laptop would sleep and crash the system.

Target Architecture: “Services + Storage + Networking”

The home lab is organized into:

  • Services/virtualization: run Proxmox on the Dell
  • Storage: run TrueNAS on a MacBook (ZFS-based)
  • Networking: ideally would use pfSense/OPNsense, but the laptops had only single Ethernet ports and there was no managed-switch setup, so router complexity was avoided
  • Home Assistant: considered using a dedicated MacBook to avoid VM/hardware passthrough complexity (e.g., Bluetooth/Zigbee dongles)

Key Build / Tutorial-like Steps and Solutions

TrueNAS setup on MacBook (ZFS mirror)

  • The 15” MacBook initially used:
    • Two HDDs for data (via bays/optical adapter and SATA SSD/HDD options)
    • No dedicated SSD for boot, so the creator used two flash drives and configured a ZFS mirror for boot/installation redundancy
  • Installing TrueNAS required a USB dongle/adapter due to USB limitations.
  • After boot:
    • Created a mirrored ZFS pool
    • Mounted SMB shares
    • Everything worked until the lid issue occurred

Lid-sleep/crash workaround (important issue)

  • Closing the lid caused the system to sleep and then crash.
  • A fix was found to ignore the lid switch by editing a logind.conf-style configuration file (login manager configuration).
  • Remaining problem: the screen still consumed power.
    • They discussed options like disabling backlight, but ultimately:
    • Unplugged the display connector to avoid display power draw.
  • Result: power improved, but the 15” model was still reconsidered.

Proxmox installation on Dell with power optimizations

  • Proxmox installed cleanly after upgrading RAM and ensuring SSD availability.
  • Lid switch handling:
    • Applied the same general lid-ignore approach, but avoided risky display modifications because idle power was already low.
  • Backlight reduction approach:
    • Used a small one-line script to set the backlight brightness file to zero
    • Scheduled it via cron every few minutes
  • Power result:
    • Idle dropped from about 6–7W down to ~3.5W

Rebalancing hardware choice based on power measurements

The creator compared power draw:

  • Dell idle: ~6–7W
  • After backlight/off tweaks: ~3.5W
  • TrueNAS on 15” MacBook (after display unplug): ~25W
  • TrueNAS on 13” MacBook: ~15–16W

Because the 15” was suspected to draw more due to GPU/CPU behavior, they moved drives/RAM from the 15” to the 13” and used the 13” as the TrueNAS system. They also chose not to use the third MacBook (15” version) for Home Assistant, since it would nearly double power draw—favoring efficiency over convenience.

Proxmox services deployed (examples)

Using Proxmox community scripts, they set up:

  • Jellyfin (video server)
    • Mounted TrueNAS SMB shares
    • Enabled hardware-accelerated transcoding with integrated graphics
    • Reported decent performance for 4K HDR with tone mapping (VPP)
  • Crafty Controller (Minecraft server management)
    • Vanilla Minecraft server worked well aside from a “spawn” annoyance
  • Tailscale (Tailnet connectivity)
  • Home Assistant (as part of the Proxmox services stack)
  • Proxmox Backup Server proof-of-concept
    • Backups run to a separate machine/adapter setup

Measured Performance / Power and Reliability Notes

  • Whole setup power:
    • Idle under ~50W
    • Peak observed: around ~80W
  • Noise: dead silent
  • “Laptop UPS” idea:
    • Laptop batteries can keep systems running during short outages
    • Concern: battery wear/monitoring (including risks like swelling)
    • Recommendation: perform regular battery checks if used long term

Conclusions / Recommendations

  • Laptops can be a valid low-budget alternative for:
    • Home Assistant
    • Docker/LXC-style services (under Proxmox)
    • Modest storage needs via TrueNAS (ZFS)
  • Best-fit hardware:
    • A “modern” low-power laptop (like the Dell) is best for Proxmox.
    • MacBooks can work for storage, but lid/display behaviors and power draw require attention.
  • Downsides:
    • Awkward power-on workflow (lid/display/BIOS access constraints)
    • Annoying lid behavior and display control
    • Maintenance can be difficult depending on the model

Main Speakers / Sources

  • Primary speaker/source: the YouTube channel host who builds the lab (no specific name given in the subtitles)
  • Sponsor: Notion Mail (and Notion Calendar referenced)

Original video