A surge in crypto mining interest has led not only to users seeking out the best mining GPUs but since graphics cards are so hard to come by in stock and the GPU price index for cards on eBay is so high, mining with laptops is becoming more popular. We’ve also seen mining farms that only use laptops. MSI is now attempting to promote its GE76 Raider notebook as a handheld mining rig.
MSI explains how it plans to use one of its new gaming notebooks, the 17.3-inch GE76 Raider with Intel’s Core i9-10980HK processor and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 GPU within, for one month of mining in an official blog post. MSI can mine using the NiceHash platform and the Excavator miner, which uses the DaggerHashimoto algorithm.
MSI admits that one of its top-of-the-line gaming notebooks isn’t the most cost-effective mining choice, but since higher-end graphics cards are hard to get, miners may want to give it a shot.
The GE76 Raider, according to MSI, has a hash rate of about 52.8 MH/s, which is slightly slower than a desktop GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. According to CryptoCompare, assuming the laptop consumes 240W of power and the cost of power is $0.12 per kWh, the laptop will generate around $134.08 in income per month.
MSI does not indicate the long-term consequences of mining on its laptop or whether the components are designed to withstand years of continuous use. However, it sends a direct message to potential customers that its gaming laptops may be used for cryptocurrency mining.