Laptops: Netbook or Laptop as a Server?

[PlatinumPrince]

I was considering getting a netbook because it is very light and portable, anad it has very long battery life of up to 8 hrs(serves great when electricity is off)
Is it feasible or sensible to have a netbook or laptop running windows server 2003? I do not have/want any desktops in my network of 3 and possibly 4 nodes, and the netbook would be the newest node attached to the network(2 GB Ram current processor etc.) Should I even consider getting one or should I get a laptop?
If a laptop is recommended as a better server, should I go with a desktop replacement(17" screen and above) mainstream (14-15" latitude or other? or a thin and light (11-13")?
Lastly, should I or can I dual boot the net/notebook with XP and server 2003, while being able to carry it with me when network is not on?
I am currently on a tight budget and cannot afford both a dedicated tower for a server and a net/laptop. Please help me decide as I want to purchase my new net/notebook as soon as possible. Thank you in advance.

 

[SickBeast]

What is the server for?

I would say definitely do not go with a netbook, as a dual core laptop will most likely serve your needs better if you're doing anything intensive. You could probably install Windows Server 2003 on a netbook, but it would be painfully slow and you would not have enough memory.

You should also keep in mind that you will probably be limited by your hard disk capacity and performance. You might want to go with an SSD, or else you may need something with a high capacity.

If it were me, I would use Linux as a server OS. Depending on what you're doing, a netbook may actually be able to cut it as a server under a lite flavor of Linux. :beer:

 

[Brainonska511]

Why no desktops?

If you're building a server, I'd imagine you'd want to have a gigabit ethernet port, maybe RAIDed hard drives for the fastest access and data redundancy, etc...

It sounds like you already have a few laptops, so why not just use one of those. Is your money burning a hole in your pocket?

 

[PlatinumPrince]

Thanks for the replies.

This is going to be a small home network of 4 computer with the server included. There will be a desktop as a client and won't be ever considered to be the server. Netbooks do have gigabit ethernet ports as far as I know of.
Netbooks do exceed the minimum requirements listed for server 2003 standard so I wasn't expecting the netbook to be slow at the server operations that I would be carrying out such as mainly internet sharing and filtering, then print and file sharing and few other minor operations.

The netbook I had in mind was the HP mini 2140 which to me can be a business laptop that isn't heavy and is light on cost that I can dual boot with XP, and take with me when the network server is not required(Users would log on and access files locally).
Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated

 

[xSauronx]

i thought most netbooks have 10/100 ethernet only?
you can build a headless, dual core atom box for under $300 last i checked. low-power, low cost, should perform a little better.

 

[SickBeast]

For what you're doing, why do you even need a dedicated server? Why don't you just make one of your current laptops the "server" and just leave it plugged in? TBH, in all likelihood, one of your current laptops will probably do better as a server than a new netbook would.

If you just want to buy a netbook to have a new toy, do it. They're cheap enough. Please don't try to host a file server on an 8gb SSD though.

 

[aceO07]

I use an old Thinkpad x22 laptop to be a file server, printer server and svn server. It works great for what I need it do to. Runs on Ubuntu. 🙂

 

[bob4432]

you want to keep it cheap but are going to use 2k3 server?

 

[ajaidevsingh]

I say build your self a low spec AMD server system maybe around a 7750. It will not cost a lot more that the netbook plus you have a better system that can handle so much more.

If you really want a mobile solution on the cheap get a dual core "AMD/Intel" notebooks they will weight around 2-3 Kg's and would be much better than a netbook.