I tried to repurpose an old laptop, but it was fiddly and the hard drive only 750GB, so it was slow like molasses. Bit the bullet a bought a Pi 5 / Umbrel setup for about US$300, now it’s humming away. The experience was like night and day!  Well worth the money… 

 Thank you! I’ll definitely consider it! That’s the reason why I didn’t want to repurpose a laptop, those units look small enough to fit on a desk.