Can I turn my laptop into a server?

[Matteo De Vellis]

just like the title says, Can I turn my laptop into a server for games? and I mean install windows or linux server os

specs of the laptop

i7 4700mq
gt 740m
12GB ram
1TB HDD 7200rpm

 

[Saberus]

Yes. OS doesn't care if it's in a half-million dollar monster or a re-purposed wireless router, as long as it meets specs. That lappy will be a nice little beastie for a small game host.

 

[skit75]

You often run into driver issues doing this. The OEMs rarely support server OS drivers on their PC's & laptops.

 

[Eximo]

I don't think we are talking about installing a server OS, though I don't see that being a problem. Just to run your average games server it will be fine.

Most game hosting companies use fairly outdated systems or several VMs hosted on single powerful machines.

 

[skit75]

The OP mentioned a server OS in his second broken sentence. I agree, he can do it without a server OS but if he does put a server OS on his laptop hardware, he will be missing drivers, guaranteed.

 

[Saberus]

Windows server will gladly use the driver from the related consumer OS, just be sure to use the 64bit version for max stability:

2012 - Win 8
2008 R2 - Win 7

Linux I think will do the same thing, just match to the kernel and bits.