Laptop as Server

[BostonDan]

I'm planning on purchasing a laptop and connecting several (minimum 4) USB TV-Tuners capturing both standard and high definition video. Video will be stored on a NAS(Intel SS4200-E). The laptop will not be used to play video.
1) Does anyone have any recommendations on a specific laptop model to purchase or stay away from?
2) I think my primary concern is going to end up being USB bandwidth. Has anyone had any issues with USB hubs handling multiple streams of HD video?
Appreciate any suggestions and help.

[stanger89]

Why would you buy a laptop as a server? Unless you need the portability, laptops are way overpriced.

[BostonDan]

For my particular setup, I'm hoping to store this system in a small area. I like the idea of having the monitor/keyboard/mouse(touchpad) built into the system.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by BostonDan

For my particular setup, I'm hoping to store this system in a small area. I like the idea of having the monitor/keyboard/mouse(touchpad) built into the system.

Here's the deal, the problem with a laptop is the lack of expandability. Everything has to be via USB (tuners, additional hard drives, etc). USB bandwidth will become a problem.

You know you could just use VNC on your server. Then any updates you need to do, you just log in and make the changes without having to sit in front of it. I only go downstairs to my server when I am making a physical change and not a sotware....

[stanger89]

Yeah, I just keep coming back to the fact that I really can't see recommending any laptop for a "server". If you're really going to just leave it in place all the time, the cost overhead of the laptop doesn't make any sense.

You can get some nice slim uATX cases, and you can cram a lot of power into a uATX form factor these days. Take the Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H, it supports 12 USB ports, and with the HD HomeRun, HD PVR, and misc other USB tuner options, that can make for a pretty expandable package.

And as paulbeers mentioned, if it's truely a server you don't need a keyboard/mouse/display, you can just Remote Desktop in for administration.

And OT, I'm curious to hear about your Intel NAS, it looks very interesting....

[BostonDan]

After shopping around, it's appearing that a laptop is not a good option. I was suprised that I could not find a single laptop with a bunch of USB ports on the back. I'm now looking to go the uATX path and remote-desktop. Before I build a system, any recommendations on something off-the-shelf that is in a small case?

In regards to the Intel SS4200E NAS, Tom's Hardware rated it as best in class. I haven't had the chance yet to really test its performance. If anyone here does buy one, my only word of caution is make sure that you either use drives that have never been formatted or low-level format the drives before putting them in the system. In my case, I had (4) 1-TB Western Digital drives that had been formatted by an LSI MegaRAID controller. I moved these drives into the SS4200E and the SS4200E would not boot or obtain an IP address from the DHCP server. I spent hours thinking it was something with the firmware or hardware. Intel support had me low-level format the drives and then install them again. THe system is now working great. I'm a little disappointed that it didn't even give me an error, it just hung. This is supposed to be fixed in the next firmware release sometime in July.

Again everyone, I appreciate all your feedback.

[autoboy]

There are PCMCIA cards out there for USB2.0 that could increase your ports without using a hub. Still, I don't think a laptop would make a great server unless you already had one and wanted to try it.

[Slipshod]

I setup a laptop server a while back, but didn't need tons of USB ports. It primarily has Linux VMs running, and didn't do any native file-serving. It's definitely a bit more expensive, but was very nice from the space, convenience, and built-in UPS perspective.

Of course I'm now in the process of migrating everything to a big honking full-tower full of disk drives because of SageTV and my addiction to technology.

[BostonDan]

I once again want to setup a laptop as the server. Can anyone recommend a specific (cheap!) laptop with alot of USB ports to act as the SageTV server running Windows XP? I will not be playing media on the server, just recording to the laptop hard drive and having all recorderings copied to a NAS(Intel-SS4200E) nightly. All encoding will be done using hardware encoders. I'm also trying to stay away from using a USB hub.
Appreciate everyones support on this.
BostonDan.

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by BostonDan

I once again want to setup a laptop as the server. Can anyone recommend a specific (cheap!) laptop with alot of USB ports to act as the SageTV server running Windows XP? I will not be playing media on the server, just recording to the laptop hard drive and having all recorderings copied to a NAS(Intel-SS4200E) nightly. All encoding will be done using hardware encoders. I'm also trying to stay away from using a USB hub.
Appreciate everyones support on this.
BostonDan.

I'm not aware of any laptops (maybe some high end models) that have anymore than 3-4 USB ports. I really think the only way you are going to get "a lot of USB Ports" is to use a hub. I would actually think from a Laptop Server standpoint, a HUB would be almost easier as you could plug everything into it and then you only have one connection to your "server". If you go this route, then you could use just about any cheap laptop out there. Go down to your local *insert office supply store* and buy the 399 el-cheapo (as long as you don't care about having Placeshifter and even then the 399 model might handle that).

[vexhold]

Although as many others, I can not (and will not) recomend a laptop as a server of any kind, for 3 major reasons...

1. HEAT... You will be running the hell outa this thing, the tipical lifespan of a laptop is 3-5 years (under normal use) you will easily drop it to 1-2 years.

2. PRICE.. Price per spec is outragous when comparing laptops to desktops.. Money would be better spent buying an HP WHS pc. They are small and headless and just plain kick arse.

3. USB bandwidth.. Now you must understand, just because a laptop has more USB slots available on it versus another one, that doesnt necessarilly mean you get to use them all. Many laptops only have 1-2 onboard USB hubs that are split to make more ports. These ports (the more they are split) cannot handle more than one powered device at a time. Many people who have desktops are finding the same issues, but are able to add more hubs but you cannot do this on a laptop (no PCI slots).

I have a Toshiba Satellite X205-SLi3 and it has enough power and USB ports to do what your doing, but again... not recommended.

Specs are....

17" monitor
Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 / 2.2 GHz
DDR2 SDRAM - 667 MHz 2 GB / 4 GB (max)
2x 160 GB - Serial ATA-150 - 5400 rpm hard drives
2x NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT TurboCache - PCI Express x16 in SLI
6x USB 2.0 ports
HDMI port
even comes with a starter external USB HD Tuner Card

Power brick is HUGE and even when idling, it will make your mouse hand start sweating as the exhaust is hot.

Refurbs run about $1200

[sandor]

i run a laptop as my sage server but with one big caveat - it was free (broken screen).

it also blew the pants off my old AMD 3800?? based server. laptop is a macbook - core2duo.... i record everything to a NAS, all the tuners are enet (HDHR) the only three things connected to the laptop are power cable, DVI cable and enet cable.

for now, i am using the server to drive my DLP, but i will soon invest in a HD200 because the intel gma 950 is shit. for a free computer, it kicks ass, and the laptop has its own built in UPS (kind of) but if i was actually going to spend money i would get something a bit more server like...