I totally agree with kriskarthik about not mining on Apple devices at all... unless you have some really old Macbook that you don't mind "trashing" in exchange for the knowledge...

The current line of Macbooks or MBP series are designed with aesthetics and mobility in mind rather and longevity. Im sure those MBP owners can still get their 2008 or perhaps earlier models still running even to-date (albeit very much slower and a lot of wait times) but the newer line of MBPs are a different story - really finicky and I dare say not long lasting.

I have a 2008 macbook and a late 2016 MBP Touch Bar. Both of which I sampled and tried with mining. The 2008 model with a Core Duo 2.5Ghz hashes about 20-25H/s while the 2016 MBP hashes at about 90H/s.

With the 2008 model, I've got nothing to lose since its set up to be a server and it a really old model. I also used it to learn about crypto. But while waiting for my actual rig to arrive, I got tempted to start mining on the MBP. I didn't mine for that long, perhaps about 5 days total (with a power timer to switch on and off the charging every 2.5hrs), cause the heat coming off the MBP was a concern to me. Alas, I did use it to plot my HDD for BURST mining perhaps for another week. After that, while I was working on a spreadsheet, the MBP suddenly shutdown & would not start again!

Learn from my experience ... For those on Macs or any laptop for that matter, while the idea of earning some bucks may entice you to use your lap, its really not worth the electricity and increased risks of damaging your hardware. Better get yourself a rig that is dedicated to mining - at least you have the flexibility to add more cooling aside from the obviously significant increase in hash rate


Salaam Husna. With what I have said above, and if your purpose is to learn about cryptocurrency and mining, then you could look at mining cryptonight coins. I used XMR-Stak to compile and run the miner on Mac. The instructions are pretty straight forward.

You can look at how you can do that > https://github.com/fireice-uk/xmr-stak/blob/master/doc/compile_MacOS.md

Brief instructions:

1. Install Homebrew.
a. Open Terminal (press Command + Spacebar to open spotlight; search for terminal and press Enter)
b. Type the following in terminal >  /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Once homebrew is installed, go to the XMR-STAK directory and type the following step-by-step (below taken from XMR-STAK's compiling instructions)
2. brew install hwloc libmicrohttpd gcc openssl cmake
3. cmake . -DOPENSSL_ROOT_DIR=/usr/local/opt/openssl -DCUDA_ENABLE=OFF -DOpenCL_ENABLE=OFF
4. make install

After you have compiled, go to the Bin folder and run the miner with "sudo ./xmr-stak". The first time you run, the miner will ask the coins that you want to mine, the pool address, your wallet address, etc. Better have them ready.

Once that's completed, you should already be mining...

But be warned with my experience above.

this is a fact :

I suggest you OP and write in detail your experienced about mining using a laptop especially MacBook Pro and  kinds. because of has a ton of thread the same question. maybe with your experience can answer all the someone would mining using that device. almost all member including I doesn't suggest mining using laptop or Mac. in principle and architecture of that device can analysis:
1. almost all laptops (Mac, and kinds) doesn't design for mining (atm).
2. has a little fan.
3. batteries not designed for running 24/7.
4. casing which is not possible to remove heat temperature.
5. the hashrate generated a small if compared Using GPUs.

It's not even limited to just MacBooks or Apple devices for that matter, don't mine on ANY mobile devices. As mentioned before, these laptops or mobile devices don't have the cooling to be run at full utilization for long periods of time. It's much better to just save your earnings and eventually buy a rig if you wish to mine.

It is possible to mine with select threads on your CPU, but if you choose to do so then you'll be mining an amount of crypto so small it'll not be worth your time.

it's ok if only for learning. you can try mining the ETN coin. follow this step:
1. joined the Pool (you can search with key "Pool of ETN" or anything).
2. Download a software such as this: Claymore CryptoNote CPU Miner v3.9 - POOL
3. and a bit must change CONFIGURATION FILE. for the detail, jump to this thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=647251.0

But if find for the profit, I suggest you don't do mining using Mac. that's a device not design for a mining and must run 24/7, it makes a Processor worked 100%. and most very important if using Mac, you would have a bit the hash rate.

You can try minergate cli or gui or https://minergate.com/altminers/yam. Either way you will be wasting your time, electricity, and hardware components. Not to mentioned you may blow up your components due to heat and lack of cooling system.

However, it can be an experiment to start learning and understand. I've been there and tried mining on a Macbook with highest specs.