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What Is A Good Sub $300 Computer I Can Use For A Server? (lemmy.ca)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I have a refurbished Lenovo Thinkcentre that I was running Truenas off of. Everything was working great, but it got hit with a power surge and after lots of trouble shooting it appears the motherboard is fried and I don't trust my ability to soder and fix it.

No now I need to upgrade my setup. Wondering what is a good sub $300 computer I can order that will run Jellyfin, Immich, and a few light services off of? With Truenas you seem to need two SSDs. One to boot and one to run apps, so it seems like a mini PC will not work.

I have a seperate HDD drive bay with a few hdd's in it full of shows and picture. Just need a PC to run my services.

I would prefer something I can order off Amazon or can be shipped quickly so I can get back up and running again.

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[–] 2 points 6 months ago (9 children)

The battery backup is a more of a liability than a benefit imo, will just turn into a spicy pillow eventually. Especially considering any power loss will hit your router/network too rendering the server's battery moot. The only thing a laptop battery really protects against is accidental temporary unplugging.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (7 children)

    Not sure, the battery doesn't really get cycled, it doesn't get hot, I have a few which are going strong after 10+ years (the useful life of the hardware).

    It's not a hypothetical for me.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (6 children)

    Batteries are more problematic sitting at full charge than when they are empty. You're also paying money for features you don't use (battery, screen, keyboard) and have less ability to upgrade, repair, or add storage.

    By all means if you have an old spare laptop lying around use it as a server, I usually take the battery out though.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    Ok bro, you're wrong and laptops haven't come with removable batteries since before OP was born (probably).

    Of course, I also took the lead acid batteries out of my ancient laptops before I e-wasted them and went down to the sock-hop and dinosaur ride.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    Ok "bro" damn you're right and you sure showed my unc self! What an idiot I am!

    Pick any laptop model you like and search for "how to remove battery" or look up the model on ifixit. Show me a single one where the battery cannot be removed. I'll wait.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    You're arguing that something I've been doing for over a decade can't be done.

    Why? Look at my perspective. On one hand, I have 10+years of lived experience doing this thing, on the other hand there's internet guy who says it can't be done?

    Just compare a mini-pc to a entry level laptop with the same specifications from any manufacturer.

    An Asus NUC with no disk or ram and an Intel 250 (celeron) uses 65W of power and starts around $300. It has 2 cores at 1.8ghz and costs go up from there.

    From the same manufacturer at the same time, I can find over 300 laptop SKUs at the below $300 price point to choose from including the entry level zenbook 14, which, in addition to being complete (having ram is nice) packs a significantly more powerful processor and only uses 45W.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (2 children)

    I never said it couldn't be done, hell, I've done it myself. Try being a human and asking me what my actual argument or suggested approach is, try re-reading what I actually said rather than assuming it is X just so you can dunk on it.

    Max TDP is completely irrelevant, that is about cooling capacity which completely sucks in a laptop, hence the chip limit. The relevant factor for a server is idle power draw at the wall outlet.

    For my servers I get second hand dell / hp / mini pcs for peanuts. Sips power, still work fine, still going strong, upgradeable storage etc. Second hand laptops of the same era are now useless ewaste.

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  • [–] 0 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Ah, that's your problem, you're buying Dell and HP laptops, which start off as e-waste. Their batteries have thermal issues while they're still on the factory line and their laptop power supplies are engineered to die no more than 3 minutes after the warranty expires.

    We're probably talking past each other. I recommend switching to ASUS.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    I don't prefer this approach either, but if you do, a lot of commercial models (e.g. thinkpads) can be set to keep the battery at a given percent Max. Set it to only charge to 80% instead of full, and safely shutdown at like 30% and the battery will be far more stable long term. Also set ntfy alarms to your phone on the thermal sensors so you know right away if a fan gets clogged.

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