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 find in stock and the GPU price index for cards on eBay is just crazy, mining with laptops is becoming a thing. In fact, we have even seen mining farms that only use notebooks. Now, MSI is trying to advertise its latest GE76 Raider notebook as a mobile mining machine.
In an official blog post MSI describes how it plans to use one of its latest gaming notebooks, the 17.3-inch GE76 Raider with Intel’s Core i9-10980HK processor and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 GPU inside, for mining for one month. To mine, MSI will use the NiceHash platform (see how to mine Ethereum) as well as the Excavator miner with the DaggerHashimoto algorithm.
MSI admits that one of its top-of-the-range gaming notebooks is hardly the most cost-efficient mining option, but since it is hard to get a higher-end graphics card, miners may still want to try it.
MSI claims that its GE76 Raider has a hash rate of around 52.8 MH/s, which is just a little below that of a desktop GeForce RTX 3070 graphics card. Assuming that the laptop consumes 240W of power and the cost of power is $0.12 per kWh, then the machine will bring about $134.08 in profits per month, according to CryptoCompare.
MSI does not talk about the long-term effects of using its laptop for mining and whether the components are built to endure years of 24/7 use. Yet, it sends a clear signal to to potential buyers that its gaming notebooks could be used for mining.