This decade-old laptop next to my router is the most useful device on my network

When someone new comes over, one of the first questions I get is why in the world I have a random laptop plugged into my router. Depending on how tech-savvy they are, my answer usually ranges from “Oh, it’s just for movies” to “This is my home server, and here’s what it does.” So, here’s why I actually keep a decade-old laptop running next to my router.