Laptops always have wifi which is nice if you are unable to run physical wires - the connection may be less reliable than a hardwired connection, but for a homelab this flexibility offered by laptops is great.
Dell Optiplex 7090 Ultra
Dell Latitude 5520
First you must decide on what goals you want to achieve.
One critical feature for me is native NVME bootable storage. My previous generation homelab did not have NVME capabilities at all. While it was possible to add a PCIE NVME ADapter, it was unable to boot from this drive. I had to boot from the USB for the 7010.
The Dell Latitude 5420 and 5520 were found to be optimal at the time of writing. It took some patience to wait for optimal configurations (32gb ram) to become available on ebay. Waiting a bit can save you a few hundred dollars.
The 5520 model offers 2 NVME slots which is optimal for storage expansion. However the 5520 model was less common to see than the 5420 model in my experience.
The Optiplex 7090 Ultra is a very interesting form factor. The design is meant to be mounted to the back of a monitor. It is essentially the same specs as these latitude laptops but without a screen and fewer ports.
The 4 core CPU may seem limiting but with the high clock speed this is a very capable server.
6 and 8 core variants in the 5430 and 5530 series. These have discreet GPUs and will be more power hungry. My personal servers are mostly idle so I am optimizing for low power usage.
Wikipedia List of Intel Core processors
I find it helpful to select a make/model/specs and setup ebay alerts within my budget.
Power cords are not always included, check the descriptions! That mistake will set you back another $20-30.
Official manufacturer power cords are always recommended, avoid amazon knock offs for fire safety.
Condition can vary widely so be sure to find vendors with actual pictures and not stock photos. Of course buying from ebay is always a risk, finding a vendor with a lot of feedback and detailed description and pictures mitigates this risk fully in my experience.
Price also factors heavily into condition. Expect a few dings, worn out keys. Avoid devices with signs of being dropped where the corners are heavily cracked or damaged.
If an auction does not mention something was tested there should be no expectation it will function. Good refurbishers will do full functionality testing and tell you if something is broken.
The "Buy-it-now" deals go quickly. Use the search alerts to jump on good deals quick. Others are quick to find good deals so you have to be first!
Assume the battery will not have much capacity. It may work for a basic UPS to keep the device on for a few minutes at most. I personally remove the laptop's main battery entirely to cut down on power usage.
I like Dell because they provde detailed service manuals which are available in pdf format.
Here we can see all the internal ports available on these 2 models.
Notice the 2 NVME slots!
Always reset the bios on a used device.
These devices offer a "headless mode" which prevents BIOS boot prompts from getting your device stuck when it reboots
In the bios navigate to "POST Behavior" and select "Continue on Warnings and Errors"
If you are using proxmox when you close the laptop lid, the computer will go to sleep. This can be fixed with these settings:
add/edit these configs in file /etc/systemd/logind.conf
HandleLidSwitch=ignore HandleLidSwitchExternalPower=ignore HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore
Right angle USB adapters allow a laptop to fit into tighter spaces and prevent cable strain.
The power cable usually sticks out a few inches, this adapter requires way less clearance.
Admittedly this is an OLD desktop compared with a laptop released 9 years later. A modern desktop would be more power efficient.
My old homelab was comprised of 3x Dell Optiplex 7010 Small Form Factor (SFF) Desktops
Comparing the CPU's reveals massive potential power savings while also increasing cpu clock, memory speed, and bandwidth.
Decreasing the CPU node size from 22nm to 10nm drastically improves the power characteristics.
This is evident in the TDP ratings. The aggressive frequency scaling in modern cpu's greatly improves power efficiency.
Intel ARK Comparison i5-1145G7 vs i7-3770| Intel Product Specification Comparison | ||
| Intel Core i5-1145G7 Processor | Intel Core i7-3770 Processor | |
| Essentials | ||
| Product Collection | 11th Generation Intel Core i5 Processors | Legacy Intel Core Processors |
| Vertical Segment | Mobile | Desktop |
| Processor Number | i5-1145G7 | i7-3770 |
| Lithography | 10 nm SuperFin | 22 nm |
| CPU Specifications | ||
| Total Cores | 4 | 4 |
| Total Threads | 8 | 8 |
| Max Turbo Frequency | 4.40 GHz | 3.90 GHz |
| Cache | 8 MB Intel Smart Cache | 8 MB Intel Smart Cache |
| Bus Speed | 4 GT/s | 5 GT/s |
| Configurable TDP-up Base Frequency | 2.60 GHz | |
| Configurable TDP-up | 28 W | |
| Configurable TDP-down Base Frequency | 1.10 GHz | |
| Configurable TDP-down | 12 W | |
| Intel Deep Learning Boost (Intel DL Boost) on CPU | Yes | |
| Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 Frequency | 3.90 GHz | |
| Processor Base Frequency | 3.40 GHz | |
| TDP | 77 W | |
| Supplemental Information | ||
| Marketing Status | Discontinued | Discontinued |
| Launch Date | Q1'21 | Q2'12 |
| Memory Specifications | ||
| Max Memory Size (dependent on memory type) | 64 GB | 32 GB |
| Memory Types | DDR4-3200 | LPDDR4x-4267 | DDR3 1333/1600 |
| Max # of Memory Channels | 2 | 2 |
| ECC Memory Supported | No | No |
| Max Memory Bandwidth | 25.6 GB/s | |
| GPU Specifications | ||
| GPU Name | Intel Iris Xe Graphics | Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| Intel Quick Sync Video | Yes | Yes |
Mounted on the network rack the comparison is more apparent. You could easily stack several laptops where a single desktop would fit.
At idle - the power dropped from 29 watts on the Optiplex 7010 to 7 watts on the Latitude 5420.
If you want more than the 1gig onboard ethernet, usb/thunderbolt devices are a great option.
QNAP offers a thunderbolt to SFP+ 10gig adapter, but it's not cheap - coming in at $250.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1875144-REG/qnap_qna_uc10g1sf_usb4_type_c_to_1.html
I have the previous version of this device the qna-t310g1s. These devices use the Aquantia chipsets
I believe 5gig ethernet will be the sweet spot in the near future. 10gig ethernet switches are still relatively expensive and power hungry.
That said, at the time of writing, 5gig switches are still rare and expensive. Luckily 2.5gig devices are becoming ubiquituos at low cost. See Serve The Home: The Ultimate Cheap Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Buyers Guide
With the advent of Realtek's low cost chips such as the RTL8157 you can get a 5gig(Yes it does 2.5gig too) Ethernet USB for $20.
Kiwee Broadband USB C to Ethernet Adapter 5Gbps - https://www.amazon.com/p/dp/B0DR28J3H9
Serious add-on cards require a pcie slot. This is one area where laptops are less flexible than desktops.
SinLoon offers a variety of PCIE break-outs including M.2 and mini-PCIE which can be plugged into these laptops.
Be mindful of orientation of the cables, and pcie keying. After you buy it and it doesn't fit - you'll figure out what keying is.
The mellanox connectx3 card I used required 12v power on the PCIE slot. Sinloon also sells a USB to 12v adapter. Note you will have to connect the wires!
M.2 M-Key PCI-E4.0 2280 NGFF to 90 Degree PCIe X4 Extender Cable M2 to PCI-E 4X Female Riser Cable for M2 2230 (M.2 90 Degree Right)
M.2 NGFF Key A+E to PCIe X1 Extender Cable M.2 to PCI-E 1X Female Riser Cable for M2 2230
Mini PCIE Wireless Network Card to PCIe X1 Extender Cable Mini-Pcie Male to PCI-E X1 Female Riser Cable 20CM
DC Boost Cable - 3 Pack USB 5V to 12V Step Up Converter, USB 2.0 Male to Bare Wire
Add 10gig networking! Other useful devices such as a SATA HBA work great too.
The CPU + PCH supports several PCIE lanes which are exposed for wifi and wwan.
Hey they doesn't go there.... but it works.
This 10g Mellanox ConnectX3 has been working reliably! This configuration used a 12v external PSU to provide power to the PCIE slot.
This setup improved transfer rates to around ~3.4gbit performance when copying a file via filezilla sftp
On reddit homelabs I saw a user with sata ports galore on internal NVME and MPCIE slots.
This is a great setup for a nas.
7090 Ultra Exploded view
2026-04-10 Initial publication