sure.
You can attach an external display. Or turn it into a small home server
this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
30 points (100.0% liked)
Asklemmy
54865 readers
536 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
Search asklemmy π
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 7 years ago
MODERATORS
Or as an always online syncthing node
With a built-in ups.
Yup, many laptops even have a sim card slot so with that you could even configure it to fall back to mobile data in case of a power outage that also takes out your homes wired internet.
I have a thinkpad at work that has been in that role for years. Its the central syncthing node for like 10 other laptops and computers. It then also does regular automated backups to off site storage in case anything bad happens with the syncthing setup.
ultra low profile headless server with built in UPS? Heck yeah!
The way I see it, it's basically downgraded to a desktop (assuming it has a separate display output). People use laptops like that as desktops and even home servers all the time.
The two major things to look out for is you probably want to configure it so that closing the lid doesn't put it to sleep, and if possible, detach the battery and just run it off the charger to prevent the battery from puffing up from being constantly charged.
Hell, detach the screen entirely and you basically have a DIY modern Commodore 64.
Some laptops let you set a maximum charge for the battery at 70 or 80%, which is better for long term storage, and still offers the backup power supply if needed.
Could also maybe be repaired
@sexy_peach that costs an awful lot of money, and the investment is really not worth it considering the age of the machine.
Then ignore this idea
It costs like $100 to order a replacement screen, depending on the model.
If you have an external monitor, turn it into a halftop.
If you run any services (jellyfin / a media server, torrents, document storage, etc), have them run on it.
@dessalines sounds interesting, but how does something like jellyfin work on a laptop without any display ?
You use the laptop to run the server that dishes up the content for the client devices that have working displays to watch on
@tophneal too nerdy stuff for me.
Now I'm curious why you chose that particular username π€
building inspector maybe
You won't be able to do this then. You'd need to learn your way around linux, servers, ssh, etc to be able to run these services.
Iβm afraid if the display is actually dead then most of the options to keep the laptop computing will likely be βtoo nerdyβ for you. Pretty much all of them will involve using it as a headless server.
....what the fuck are you on about? Have you never seen an HDMI jack on a laptop before?
Nah youβre right, I was mid-first cup. HDMI, usbc dp are both potential options to use video out. Iβve been corrected. Rude as fuck way to do that though.
I suppose that was rather rude if you're like, going by what words mean or something. I apologize.
I appreciate your apology and hope youβre having a good day today
To make it easy, start off with plugging your old laptop into external monitor. Install RDP, VNC, ssh, ftp depending on your OS. Install tailscale and join the network. Now with another computer, connect to that same network with tailscale and then you can connect and see your laptop screen with RDP. Or if you want VNC you can get a βdummyβ hdmi adapter or try installing software for dummy monitor output. After that, use wired ethernet to plug old laptop in router, set to never turn off (recommend removing laptop battery beforehand) and there you go, you have your own personal server you can access anywhere including your phone! From there, look into self-hosting with apps like jellyfin, immich, etc. tons of great resources online.
Yes, you and a group of your closest friends could have a grand ole time at the local park playing Frisbee with it.
I'm using an old broken netbook to prop open my living room window
Or baseball!
Replacing a display in a laptop is a routine operation for IT companies hardware teams. So it should be easy to find a shop that replaces the display.
Totally, assuming of course it's a business class laptop (indeed if it's a thinkpad or similar most anyone can grab a $50 screen from China, find a yt tutorial and have a go themselves with a fair chance of success). On the other hand if it's a glued together ultra thin consumer POS, it's likely more than it's worth to get it fixed.
It depends on why it stopped working. If the display doesnt work because it got dropped chances are other parts of it are broken as well.
Assuming everything else is functioning properly and it has an HDMI/VGA/DVI etc, than it can be connected to an external display.
u might be able to buy the display cheap and fix it. I've previously bought the same model on ebay
i have a macbook pro from 2019 and the display has some defect and all the colors are inverted. i installed ubuntu and used it as a desktop for awhile.
I used a laptop with no screen and no harddrive for a while, mainly for presentations during teaching. The laptop plus a usb with linux and the pdf on it, hook it up to the projector. Worked fine. I think I also stripped if from most of the ram.
@mumblerfish the projector acted as the display ?
Exactly. Showed presentations for my students on it.
As useful as any mini PC. Unless it's one that refuses to boot without a working battery or requires you to jump through hoops to get display out blindly.
Self-hosting aside, I had one during the work-from-home times. I wanted to easily move my setup from room-to-room, but not worry about the built-in screen being in the way of my nice monitors/CRT/TV or ruining the battery by leaving it plugged in all day.
@monovergent how do you boot a PC without looking into the monitor ?
The halftop I used was a Thinkpad and Lenovo has an online BIOS simulator. I followed it to the display output settings and set it to default to HDMI out instead of the internal LCD. Which then let me do everything including BIOS configuration on an external monitor.
@monovergent you did it by tinkering with the hardware ?
Not strictly, that was just a BIOS option. Can't guarantee every laptop comes with it. The power button was situated on the lid though, so I had to bodge it into the lower chassis.