People pay fake tickets because it’s too expensive to fight them.

Not nextcloud, but I have several containers set up to use ‘third party’ database - ie, not running inside the container or compose group, sometimes on a second machine. It definitely complicates the setup. I haven’t noticed any performance issues, but my services are low load.

I would think that the db running on the Pi with storage on the Pi could be faster than the db running on the laptop with storage on the Pi. The Pi db would presumably have higher bandwidth to the Pi storage and only have to transfer the selected data over network, where the laptop db has to do all the db sorting, filter, and processing over the network, although I suppose the db would try to keep all the data in RAM. I know there’s limitations to Pi’s internal bus bandwidth, Maybe you can compare the hdparm performance of the NAS RAID vs the NFS mount.

My homelab has been running for 20 years, during which I’ve gone through something like a dozen desktop and laptop PCs. Copying a terabyte of media to each of those computers seems like a terrible waste. My TVs, either through Raspberry Pi or their own software, can also play all of that media.

The homelab also runs a few 24/7 services that do stuff overnight (most notably sensor data logging), pihole, routing, media management. It’s lower power than the desktop/gaminng computer, and it’s not practical to have those 24/7 services on a laptop that leaves the house periodically.

So, homelab to minimize the amount of storage replication, minimize power consumption, and provide always-on processing.

Of course, having that platform, it’s also an opportunity to play. Implement services that totally wouldn’t be practical in and of themselves, but setup makes a fun diversion for an afternoon or a weekend. Remote access for the rare occasion when I’m traveling. Monitoring the otherwise invisible, headless computers. (like NUT to keep track of 3 different UPSes)