Re: Can the BFL ASIC miners run off a laptop since they are powered by USB?
Will there be any disadvantages by doing so? This question is mainly directed to the 4.5 GH/s jalapeno miner.
Theeeeeenks!
Theeeeeenks!
You need an external power source to run the current 5GH/s model. According to this video http://codinginmysleep.com/bfl-jalapeno-unboxing-and-demo/ they need ~30W.
There are currently 2 USB powered mining devices that I know of. ASICMINER Block Erupter USB (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=195004.0) and
Avalon Asic chip Mini USB miner (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=196281.msg2040708#msg2040708). The ASICMINER USB is currently in production, while the Avalon USB is still in design. Check out the Custom hardware forum (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=76.0) to join group buys to purchase units. You should always read all the terms of the group buy before committing to an order.
Happy mining,
QG
Thank you for the great links, it cleared up a lot of the questions I had. I like the idea of a purely USB powered miner and it's too bad BLF couldn't make it work. 5W to 30W is a big jump, but it still mines 4.5GH/s-5GH/s, and won't cut too much into profit.