diff --git a/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile b/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile
index eb0d0f607b633852185f1248a876598a70fc9bd2..1dcf0d94e627a57ee74a74fa3c2a7b26c3b109cb 100644
--- a/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile
+++ b/keras3-cpu/Dockerfile
@@ -9,9 +9,12 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 USER root
 
-# R pre-requisites
 RUN apt-get update --yes && \
     apt-get install --yes --no-install-recommends \
+    # general purpose utils
+    iputils-ping \
+    htop \
+    # R pre-requisites
     fonts-dejavu \
     unixodbc \
     unixodbc-dev \
@@ -82,6 +85,8 @@ RUN wget --no-hsts -q -O vscode_cli.tar.gz 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/do
 # install some packages
 USER ${NB_UID}
 RUN mamba install --yes \
+    # system monitor
+    'bpytop' \
     # umap + hdbscan
     'umap-learn' \
     'hdbscan' \
diff --git a/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile b/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile
index 118d1190d29d4fce7e2f332a6ff9c3c7fecbabeb..e237d45a5c9226d51d08900f4405ff701bccf7b3 100644
--- a/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile
+++ b/keras3-gpu/Dockerfile
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 USER root
 
+# general purpose utils
+RUN apt-get update --yes && \
+    apt-get install --yes --no-install-recommends \
+    iputils-ping \
+    htop && \
+    apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 # install code-server and extensions
 ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.3
 RUN wget --no-hsts -q https://github.com/coder/code-server/releases/download/v$CODE_VERSION/code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
@@ -33,6 +40,8 @@ RUN wget --no-hsts -q -O vscode_cli.tar.gz 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/do
 # install some packages
 USER ${NB_UID}
 RUN mamba install --yes \
+    # system monitor
+    'bpytop' \
     # umap + hdbscan
     'umap-learn' \
     'hdbscan' \
diff --git a/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile b/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile
index 21f1e18eff88cbeb1d4f5882de0b54df1f9d1af2..53e2af3fd2295d433c1615b6baa306773e355343 100644
--- a/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile
+++ b/pytorch-gpu/Dockerfile
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ SHELL ["/bin/bash", "-o", "pipefail", "-c"]
 
 USER root
 
+# general purpose utils
+RUN apt-get update --yes && \
+    apt-get install --yes --no-install-recommends \
+    iputils-ping \
+    htop && \
+    apt-get clean && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 # install code-server and extensions
 ENV CODE_VERSION=4.95.3
 RUN wget --no-hsts -q https://github.com/coder/code-server/releases/download/v$CODE_VERSION/code-server_${CODE_VERSION}_amd64.deb && \
@@ -34,6 +41,8 @@ RUN wget --no-hsts -q -O vscode_cli.tar.gz 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/do
 # NOTE: without --no-update-deps somehow an undefined symbol error in /opt/conda/lib/python3.11/lib-dynload/_sqlite3.cpython-311-x86_64-linux-gnu.so occurs, which crashes jupyter lab.
 USER ${NB_UID}
 RUN conda install --yes --no-update-deps \
+    # system monitor
+    'bpytop' \
     # umap + hdbscan
     'umap-learn' \
     'hdbscan' \