Hi everyone,
I’m just getting started in the world of selfhosting and wanted some advice.
I’m currently using a 2015 MacBook Pro (i7 with 16gb of RAM) running Sonoma as a small Jellyfin Server. I’ve got an externally powered 4TB HDD connected for media storage. It’s been going fine, and I use it to access Jellyfin on several devices across my house, I don’t have remote access set up.
I’m planning to move home in the next year and I’m thinking about long-term solutions which will allow me to self host more than just Jellyfin, so I wanted some advice. I have some experience using Linux on laptops, and I can troubleshoot networking stuff using ChatGPT. I don’t work in IT/ software but I’m a decent end-user.
Here’s what I’d like to self-host: More robust Jellyfin setup - I’d like access to my media outside of my home, so probably using tailscale or similar. An NAS with a cloud storage solution which will eventually allow me to move away from iCloud. Home security server - a small setup, I’m thinking 2 ip cameras and easy access to footage on my phone. I want to ditch ring for multiple reasons / don’t want to rely on a subscription service. A pi-hole to block adds across my home network.
Moving home is going to be expensive so I’m not trying to spend a tonne of money. Which leads me to ask. What kind of setup would you guys recommend I invest in? I can spend about €500-600. Ideally, I’d like to be at a point where everything I run is open source. I assume I can’t expect to scale up using my 2015 MacBook Pro? Is is possible to install something like proxmox on these machines? my other option would be a small mini pc, perhaps running proxmox. Do I need to buy a dedicated NAS in your opinion? I have 10tb in external hdds that could serve as a makeshift setup.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
There's nothing wrong with just running a laptop as a server until you have specific requirements it can't meet.
Like maybe running a pi hole over wifi doesn't fill you with confidence and you really need something plugged into your router.
in which case I'd get a cheap mini-pc. even something as cheap as an N95 will handle everything you want to do here easily but you can also go the 2nd hand 1L route which can be fun too.
Thanks for the reply. Regarding pi-hole on WiFi, I can connect the laptop via LAN with a usb adapter. So that may mitigate that issue
I mentioned a cheap dedicated server because I'm not sure when quicksync was introduced, if you need to do any transcoding at all an intel macbook will probably catch fire.
and if you haven't already then change the thermal paste. I have a 2015 pro as well and it gets real hot, factory paste can be a crap shoot if it's even making contact in the first place much less after a decade and new paste actually makes a bigger difference in performance than I expected.