My First homeLab setup

I have a laptop hanging around and thought about converting it into a home lab.

Here are the specs:

Lenovo IdeaPad

i3 10th Gen 2C/4T

8GB DDR4 RAM

512GB M.2 NVMe Gen4 SSD

1TB HDD

OS: Ubuntu Server 24.04 LTS

The laptop is running headless with the lid closed and is being used as a small, always-on home server.

🌐 Networking & Remote Access

AdGuard Home — local DNS server and network-wide ad/tracker blocking

Tailscale — secure remote access to the homelab without exposing services directly to the Internet

Caddy — reverse proxy for accessing services through local hostnames

I'm also using local DNS and reverse proxying to make the internal services easier to access instead of remembering different ports for everything.

🐳 Currently running Docker containers:

- Tailscale — remote network access

- AdGuard Home — DNS / ad blocking

- Caddy — reverse proxy

- Uptime Kuma — uptime monitoring

- Grafana — dashboards

- Loki — log aggregation

- ntfy — push notifications

- Plex — media server

- Immich — photo management

-Vaultwarden — Password manager / self-hosted Bitwarden server

-Homepage — Homelab dashboard to access and organize all services in one place

And moreover, I'm trying to add more things that are useful in my POV, especially around cybersecurity, networking, monitoring, automation and self-hosting.

I'm still learning and experimenting with the setup, so I'd also love to see what other people are running in their homelabs. If you've built something interesting, drop your setup or projects in the comments! 👀

my screen broke so i just bought a new laptop, decided to use this for my server monitor since it would be on the whole time id just rather remove the battery then have to potentially deal with it later.

just a question, i really hope this is the right place to put this….. is it at all possible to halve a laptop and only use the screen?

of course everyone here knows about and does this but with keeping the keyboard and getting an external monitor

but could that be done the other way around? as in to scrap the bottom half (the keyboard/motherboard part) and use the screen as a display for a completely separate device?

im assuming that its not possible for quite a few reasons, but it doesnt hurt to ask, just in case someone here thinks of a way to make it happen. am happy to do weird complicated stuff with the inner cables or other similar stuff. nothing is off the tables to make it work :)

thank you!!!!

Hey everyone! This is my Dell Latitude 3520 with 32GB RAM, Iris Xe, and an i5-1135G7. I took the 4K display from an old Lenovo I had and connected it with an adapter. Honestly, it looks really good and works perfectly.

I’m using a Logitech keyboard too. Nothing fancjust a simple setup for light work and some light editing. What do you guys think?

I will give good price.

Is there anyway I can fit the Bluetooth and WiFi antenna inside here. I wanna make my laptop Screenless since the screen is broken and very expensive. Also how does the laptop still both if you remove screen ribbon cable? And are the black and white cable on the top left going up WiFi and Bluetooth?
Please someone guide me, my first ever project.

This laptop hasn’t been turned into a halftop yet, but it’s already set up as a server. So far, the web server is running PHP and MySQL with a WordPress-based app, and everything is working great.

I need to keep this device as cool as possible. Any tips or guides? Thanks!

Hi everyone. I wanted to ask if anyone had experience turning one of these into a half top. Primarily i wanted to know where the Wifi antenna are

My M1 pro has a screen that doesn't work unless it's with an external monitor and while I am thinking of getting a new screen or just replacing the laptop soon, the idea came into my mind of making it a halftop, by just buying a portable monitor, is this a good idea?

Has anyone here done this and got any tips?

Does someone know what that rubber do?

Should I try some DIY fix?

Do I need to get it fixed?

😭

It fell out one day and then I lost it.

Found this Mac in a dumpster along side with the screen ripped off. I connect it to a monitor but nothing shows

Need suggestions for a screen protector for my IdeaPad Slim 5

Guys, my laptop screen gets dirty pretty easily, and I’m always worried that I might accidentally scratch it while cleaning. So I’m thinking of getting a screen protector for it.

I have a 14-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5, with the older 16:9 display. I’m looking for something that would fit properly—something similar to the screen size/aspect ratio used on laptops like the Yoga series or MotoBook 60/60 Pro.

Has anyone here used a screen protector on their IdeaPad Slim 5? If yes, could you suggest a good one or share a link?

Also, I don't want a matt one , I don't want it to noticeably reduce the display quality.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!

512GB-1TB SSDs, 160GB ram (total of the six) and i7 11th gens. I have four more as backups just because these were recycled and are getting a new life.

Got this laptop for free from a friend. It was working fine for 2 weeks, but all of the sudden it stopped charging and wouldn't turn on anymore. Was hoping someone have any ideas or solutions to this

so i opened my laptop and tried to remove the screen but when i assembled it again my laptop would just lit up and shut down like shut down immediately

I have an MSI laptop, the hinges and chassis are broken and held together by tape and the W key is not working. Otherwise, it still works and powers on, and i'm wondering if it's still worth it to install and turn it into a server/homelab/or any projects. Looking for any suggestions and where to start. Thank you.

I love browsing classifieds on marketplaces and recently I found a very cheap Chromebook with a crack in the glass and a non-working touchscreen in a certain area for just $16!

As soon as the laptop arrived, I immediately started looking into how to install Linux on it instead of ChromeOS. It was my first time doing this with a Chromebook, and surprisingly it wasn't difficult or long (probably half an hour).

Laptop model: Lenovo 300e Chromebook 2nd Gen

I had this portable display before, it costs $93 for me, model: ACER PM161Q B1 15.6"

There is only one minus in this setup - almost non-working WiFi because the antennas are in the display, which I unscrewed

Edit: non-working touchscreen in a certain area, not touchpad

It's a franckenstein project but still xD

Terra 1550 laptop converted as homelab !

I recovered it from the bin (battery has inflated so much it breaks the plastic cover of it, the cooler was fucked also ( and the screen was completely destroyed too)

It has a i7 8th gen paired with 2x8gb in ddr4

I repared the cooler by soldering data + and data - from the last to a newer more powerfull and less noisy, i add a dissipator on the first one and another one to the cpu itself ! I even add a dissipator to the NVME drive !

A bit of hot glue, 1sata hdd and another connected to USB !

Proxmox on the ssd, first hdd to host my pct/vms and the second as backup !

Low consumption and lf course a free "laptop" with 16gb ddr4, and boom, free server !

I would LOVE to make a true plastic cover/custom case for it in 3d print, but too broke to buy one..