USB Bitcoin miners on a laptop?

[designer24]

Hello guys,

I'm a total newbie.

I have a workstation laptop with a good GPU (amd m5100).
I'm planning to mine bitcoins or other crypto currency using a USB miner such as Antminer U3 or Gekcoscience USB stick, Butterfly Labs USB miners.

Is this possible? can a laptop mine bitcoin with USB miners?

Also, is it worth mining not too famous crypto currency? such as zCash and altcoin?
I haven't heard anyone really talking about crypto currency besides Bitcoin so I'm not sure if other crypto currency really worth as much as bitcoin.
Can I use altcoin, for example, like real cash?

Thanks in advance.

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[WalkingLiberty]

USB sticks are really only good for mining Alt Coins. The return on investment is measured in years. lol Unless you get lucky and stack an Alt that hits it big.

Using your Laptop CPU/GPU to mine is not recommended as it will cause thermal damage to the components long before you get enough return to buy a new machine.

The USB miners were really good several years ago but now they are really only good for experimentation. I do not understand why people pay so much for them. lol

[pinoyden]

Hello guys,

I'm a total newbie.

I have a workstation laptop with a good GPU (amd m5100).
I'm planning to mine bitcoins or other crypto currency using a USB miner such as Antminer U3 or Gekcoscience USB stick, Butterfly Labs USB miners.

Is this possible? can a laptop mine bitcoin with USB miners?

Also, is it worth mining not too famous crypto currency? such as zCash and altcoin?
I haven't heard anyone really talking about crypto currency besides Bitcoin so I'm not sure if other crypto currency really worth as much as bitcoin.
Can I use altcoin, for example, like real cash?

Thanks in advance.

i think its possible if you got a nice laptop with a really good high quality spec. but as the other guy said, it can cause a lot of damage on the laptop because laptops is a bit fragile and lack of hardware power compared to a pc that you can customized and add some tools or accesories like extra fan, extra gpu, etc. and also its better to buy a dedicated mining rigs or hardware for a better results and performance rather than a usb one. and yes altcoin is is fine and okay to mine because i see more and more users here in the forum are also mining altcoins.

[Lieldoryn]

Mining altcoins are more popular among beginners because it does not require large investments at once. You can gradually build up their capacity and if for some reason, mining will become unprofitable, you always have the ability to sell video cards to gamers.

[designer24]

Thanks for your response guys!

So can I just plug in these USB miners to my laptop and start mining?
Yes, I learned mining with GPU / CPU can damage laptop easily... If I use a USB miner instead, can I avoid damaging my laptop? 

I found a 60GH/s USB miner from Butterfly Labs.
I think this is perhaps the fastest & most powerful USB miner with ASIC feature.

https://www.picclickimg.com/d/w1600/pict/152693516749_/Butterfly-Labs-SGL600G-Single-Bitcoin-ASIC-USB-Miner.jpg

Do you guys think mining with this machine will be profitable given that I will do this at places which I won't be charged for electricity?

Also, If there's a good way to spend other less popular cryptocurrency like cash, please let me know.
For Bitcoins, there are a plenty of Bitcoin VISA debit cards available out there now. I wonder if I can get similar VISA debit card for other cryptocurrencies and use like cash.

Thanks in advance!

[QuintLeo]

Using a laptop to control one or more USB-based miners is viable - the software needed doesn't put much of a load on the laptop so it doesn't have overheating issues.

 The issue is that USB-based miners are ALL less efficient (except the Moonlander II) and cost a LOT MORE per hash than recent generation dedicated miners do, so achieving ROI on them is a ton more difficult to impossible.

 Ignore ANY usb-based Bitcoin miner, they're ALL ancient outdated VERY INEFFICIENT and won't do anything but heat up your room and waste electric.
 Might be OK in the winter for use as space heaters but useless otherwise, and probably overpriced even as space heaters.

 That Butterfly in point - to compare to a CURRENT bitcoin miner, the S9 - the S9 mines 13 THOUSAND GH (or about 200 TIMES as fast at that Butterfly) while using ballpark 1400 watts (I think the actual figure is a little less).
 Your Butterfly unit would have to soak less than 5 WATTS to compete - in actual fact I seem to recall that particular unit eats somewhat more than 500.

 Even on FREE electric, you probably will never make enough out of it to pay it off.

[designer24]

Using a laptop to control one or more USB-based miners is viable - the software needed doesn't put much of a load on the laptop so it doesn't have overheating issues.

 The issue is that USB-based miners are ALL less efficient (except the Moonlander II) and cost a LOT MORE per hash than recent generation dedicated miners do, so achieving ROI on them is a ton more difficult to impossible.

 Ignore ANY usb-based Bitcoin miner, they're ALL ancient outdated VERY INEFFICIENT and won't do anything but heat up your room and waste electric.
 Might be OK in the winter for use as space heaters but useless otherwise, and probably overpriced even as space heaters.

 That Butterfly in point - to compare to a CURRENT bitcoin miner, the S9 - the S9 mines 13 THOUSAND GH (or about 200 TIMES as fast at that Butterfly) while using ballpark 1400 watts (I think the actual figure is a little less).
 Your Butterfly unit would have to soak less than 5 WATTS to compete - in actual fact I seem to recall that particular unit eats somewhat more than 500.

 Even on FREE electric, you probably will never make enough out of it to pay it off.

Thanks again for your detailed response.

Yes, I'm aware mining bitcoin with USB machines is no longer profitable...
so I'm targeting much less popular crypto currencies such as zCash, PIVX, Dash.
These less popular currencies can be mined at higher rate than Bitcoin so maybe they can turn into profits?
They maybe become popular later and turn into good investment.

Right now, I can't use desktop or non-USB miners due to my lifestyle which switches from office to office.
I work full time on my laptop. I invested more into a laptop so need to stick with this machine. Ideally, I want to carry USB miner and USB crpytocurrency wallet (Ledger Nano S) so I can collect crypto currency while working on my laptop.

Does this sound like a good plan? I won't waste time on mining bitcoin.. I might trade other currency into bitcoin maybe.
Thankfully, my landlord will pay for all of my electricity while using his office.

[NiHaoMike]

Using a laptop to control one or more USB-based miners is viable - the software needed doesn't put much of a load on the laptop so it doesn't have overheating issues.

 The issue is that USB-based miners are ALL less efficient (except the Moonlander II) and cost a LOT MORE per hash than recent generation dedicated miners do, so achieving ROI on them is a ton more difficult to impossible.

 Ignore ANY usb-based Bitcoin miner, they're ALL ancient outdated VERY INEFFICIENT and won't do anything but heat up your room and waste electric.

The latest Avalon is still USB connected.

[designer24]

Using a laptop to control one or more USB-based miners is viable - the software needed doesn't put much of a load on the laptop so it doesn't have overheating issues.

 The issue is that USB-based miners are ALL less efficient (except the Moonlander II) and cost a LOT MORE per hash than recent generation dedicated miners do, so achieving ROI on them is a ton more difficult to impossible.

 Ignore ANY usb-based Bitcoin miner, they're ALL ancient outdated VERY INEFFICIENT and won't do anything but heat up your room and waste electric.

The latest Avalon is still USB connected.

Yes, I looked up Avalon USB miners... which model would you recommend?
Unfortunately, I can't invest too much into miners for now. Sub $200 model is best I can do.

and can someone clarify the higher GH/s better it is for mining?
so it goes like:  MH/s < GH/s < TH/s

TH/s models seems to be way too expensive (over $1k)
I can try few GH/s USB models I guess.
The best of them being Butterfly Labs with 60GH/s

[QuintLeo]

Yes, I'm aware mining bitcoin with USB machines is no longer profitable...
so I'm targeting much less popular crypto currencies such as zCash, PIVX, Dash.

 The problem is that folks KNOW about those, and bounce miners around to chase the profits, which tends to level them out pretty closely.

 Also, there is no such thing as a USB based miner for ZCash (it's GPU mined), and the only ones for DASH are going to be completely unprofitable by the end of October due to HUGE SHIPMENTS of the Bitmain Antminer D3 and smaller shipments of the other "current generation" X11 miner models by that point.


 I was not aware the Avalons used USB - though they had their own propriatary setup to a Pi or something similar to a Pi?
 If they CAN be used on a standard computer with a USB port, then they are an exception to my statement as the Avalon 7 is pretty efficient even by current standards.

 1 TerraHash = 1000 Gigahash = 1 MILLION Megahash.
 It's standard numerical notation.

 As I recall the Gekkoscience will outmine or nearly outmine  that Butterfly Labs model - while using a TON less power.
 You might want to look into Sidehack's "Terminus" model though, it should be in production VERY shortly and will beat his stick-type Gekkoscience model by a good bit.


 The Avalon 7 is under $1000, but not by a lot.
 You aren't going to find ANY current generation ASIC-based miner for $200 (the Terminus MIGHT get close, but it's generation-old ASIC chips).

[Zocadas]

I even used two usb miners on my old netbook, but only mined bcn. It is really not worth it because of electricity costs and initial investment.

[designer24]

I even used two usb miners on my old netbook, but only mined bcn. It is really not worth it because of electricity costs and initial investment.

Yeah, that's probably what will happen if I mine bitcoin but I intend to mine other crypto currencies which are less popular and have higher hash rate (zCash, Dash, PIVX, etc)

I like Avalon but I need a device which I can carry in my backpack at least.
Otherwise, it's going to be too much works to carry these around along with a laptop.
Antminer S3 seems like the best solution under $200.. 450Gh/s hash rate is enough for other less popular currencies.

[QuintLeo]

S3 only hashes SHA256 coins like Bitcoin, BitcoinCash, Namecoin, etc.

 It does NOT mine ZCash or DASH (and I doubt it mines PIVX).

 ZCash is currently mined on GPUs (it CAN be mined on CPUs but they're very INefficient at it).
 DASH is mined on ASIC using the X11 algorithm - it CAN be mined on GPUs but is VERY inefficient, it CAN be mined on CPUs but that's a complete waste.

[fanatic26]

The latest Avalon is still USB connected.

Avalon uses USB to connect to its serial adapters, which has nothing to do with what he is talking about. To run an avalon you need an entire computer (aka raspberry pi) to control them.

OP: With your requirements you wont find anything profitable to run. It really isnt worth the effort if you are hoping for a return based on your limitations.

[designer24]

S3 only hashes SHA256 coins like Bitcoin, BitcoinCash, Namecoin, etc.

 It does NOT mine ZCash or DASH (and I doubt it mines PIVX).

 ZCash is currently mined on GPUs (it CAN be mined on CPUs but they're very INefficient at it).
 DASH is mined on ASIC using the X11 algorithm - it CAN be mined on GPUs but is VERY inefficient, it CAN be mined on CPUs but that's a complete waste.

I see ... then S3 is a total waste of money as it can't generate any profit mining bitcoin!
The only ASIC X11 USB device out there now is UD-1 .. however it has horrible hash rate of only few Mh/s ...  This one's much worse than general USB stick miners.
Any suggestion for a portable mining rig for Dash?
Is mining BitcoinCash profitable if it's different from Bitcoin?

Thanks,

[Ultegra134]

USB Miners are a thing of the past. They are not efficient anymore, even if you got them for free, it won't be worth running them, even if you are not paying for your electricity, your earnings will be petty.
They are completely outdated, won't be worth to even keep your laptop on just to run a bunch of those.

[designer24]

USB Miners are a thing of the past. They are not efficient anymore, even if you got them for free, it won't be worth running them, even if you are not paying for your electricity, your earnings will be petty.
They are completely outdated, won't be worth to even keep your laptop on just to run a bunch of those.

Yeah.. that's what it looks like and that's why many sellers are no longer selling USB miners.

What kind of rig would you recommend if I use laptop only and need a miner which I can carry around to mine less popular currencies such as Dash, PIVX, Ethereum?

[Ultegra134]

USB Miners are a thing of the past. They are not efficient anymore, even if you got them for free, it won't be worth running them, even if you are not paying for your electricity, your earnings will be petty.
They are completely outdated, won't be worth to even keep your laptop on just to run a bunch of those.

Yeah.. that's what it looks like and that's why many sellers are no longer selling USB miners.

What kind of rig would you recommend if I use laptop only and need a miner which I can carry around to mine less popular currencies such as Dash, PIVX, Ethereum?

You can't do much (Or anything) with your laptop alone, you won't earn anything and will result in premature wear of your laptop due to excessive heat. Currently, your best bet would be to invest into a GPU mining rig to mine Ethereum/ZCash or similar coins.

[QuintLeo]

Serious miners are not DESIGNED to be "carried around" - they're too power-hungry and need RELIABLE internet.

 If you insist on a "carry around" concept, your best bet will probably be the Futurebit Moonlander II once he gets more of those available for sale - it's based on a current-gen efficient mining chip (unlike ANYTHING ELSE of a "portable" nature right now), it's just that "stick" miners are ALWAYS expensive per hash.

 The first-generation Moonlander would be the next-best option (they are still profitable at low electric costs, though the cost per hash is of course high).

 Anything else that is at all portable is going to be a money LOSER except perhaps on FREE electric.

 Sidehack (Gekkoscience) has been talking about putting together some BitFury based gear based on THEIR current-gen mining chip, but hasn't gotten to it yet.

[promo25]

Don't carry your mining equipment around lol