Hi there,
I am just getting interested in crypto (especially Bitcoin as it's most well known) now. I have a decent (but few years old) gaming laptop...
I was wondering, is it possible to slowly mine in the background on such a computer, as a way to very slowly create my own wallet and gain I dunno... like maybe 0.001 Bitcoin at a time or something? (I understand you can sell/trade with partial Bitcoin, now)... I'm looking for a way to start small with the equipment I already have - as I'm super broke - beyond broke - and am hoping to make even a couple hundred dollars only with this (even if it takes months).
I'm regretting not purchasing bitcoin way back when I first heard about it in my University days, something like 2005~2007.... *sighs* If only!
Previously I did a light dabble into some other coin... I can't remember if it was Etherium or something else more experimental --- it had a browser addon and looked kind of like a crystal fox, maybe? Might've started with a Q? Reminds me of the GIMP (GNU/Gnome Linux free, open-source Photoshop) logo... But I never got anywhere with that, and that was at least a few years back. My uncle had also recommended some new phone app mining program/cryptocurrency dealio that was purple, but it was so new I didn't trust it (?).
I'm not a programmer, but have often been programmer-adjacent. I'm fairly decent with computers, but still not very deep into things, though I can skim through some code, have a basic grasp of copy-paste-modify...
Basically, is there something people can point me to, a software or a wallet, that I can just turn on and have running in the background... perhaps with sliders "use 80% of resources" for when I'm doing something like writing, but then lower it down to like 10% or 5% if I'm busy gaming, streaming, editing video or something else more processor-heavy? then "100%" or even 110% if I'm just setting up and walking away?
I neither have the space nor money to set up any kind of fancy server tower.
TL;DR - Total novice when it comes to crypto, want to mine bitcoin easily to make a little cash on a LAPTOP, as insane as that might sound. Is that even possible?
If not, can someone recommend or point me to another crypto or two to look into, or another resource/website that might know something about mining the SUPER SUPER slow way with old gear?
Thanks!