The Setup

A quick search for “how to mine bitcoin” led me to various options, and I chose the first one that seemed credible: NiceHash. The site appeared professional and rang a bell for some reason. After checking my hardware, it provided a calculator to estimate potential profits. Although the figures weren't promising, I decided to proceed.

Signing up and downloading their software was straightforward, requiring minimal setup. If you've registered on Medium and can handle basic program installations, you should find it easy.

The Experience

As previously mentioned, my laptop’s fans are running loudly, and it's warmer than normal, yet it remains comfortably below 70°C, providing ample buffer before it risks shutting down. For context, I’m using a relatively powerful laptop equipped with an RTX 3070 GPU, which has decent cooling capabilities. Those without dedicated graphics processors are unlikely to see any profit, as cooling may not keep up.

I occasionally notice significant lag, particularly when loading web pages. The software switches mining algorithms at random, causing annoying pop-up notifications on my screen. While this is bothersome, it’s manageable.

However, I do worry about the long-term effects on my laptop. Though temperatures are stable, it runs at full capacity constantly, putting stress on the hardware. The website does offer power-saving options, but given my meager earnings, low-power mode doesn’t seem worth my time.

The Numbers

The mining software and website promise earnings of about £0.20 to £0.23 daily, roughly $0.33 before I adjusted the currency settings. After a few hours of operation, I’ve mined 0.00127 mBTC, equating to about £0.02, confirming the projections. While this is beneficial for NiceHash, it’s disappointing for me since the initial estimates were already low.

However, these figures are sufficient to yield a small profit even after accounting for energy costs. Still, rising energy prices may soon erode any gains.

The Verdict

The drawbacks are frustrating, and the earnings are underwhelming, leading me to worry about potential hardware damage. I’m particularly concerned about the fans. My laptop model reportedly has no known issues, but fan and GPU failures in laptops are not uncommon.

Currently, my rent includes utilities, so I won’t incur additional costs no matter how much energy I consume while mining. I’m hesitant to exploit this situation; pushing my luck could lead to my landlord raising my rent or questioning my activities. However, anything I earn would be pure profit.

Despite this, I doubt I’ll continue mining for long. Perhaps I’ll carry on for a bit to satisfy my curiosity, but it feels more like a price for inconvenience rather than earning easy money.

Ultimately, if you’re interested in trying mining out of curiosity, it’s not overly complicated. Otherwise, it may not be worth the effort.