I considered purchasing a used ASIC for a low price, but I'm afraid I'll end up with a defective one. An ASIC will probably be too noisy for me to use at home, where I will be mining. After doing some study, I was also considering trying to use the waste heat to offset my house heating, but it just seems too costly and dangerous for what will likely be an essential learning experience.
In as much as mining bitcoin pays, its not profitable for everyone and so you just have to find what is better for you. You can find various ways to earn bitcoin aside mining and of the best is getting paid through bitcoin. I advice you to use the money you wanted to get a ASICS machine to buy and HODL bitcoin with this you will make more money.
So, can I mine bitcoin on a laptop? is my query. I just want to know how it all works; I'm not concerned about making money. With almost no chance of winning the block reward, might I download the bitcoin core, operate a full node, and let it hash away, content with the knowledge I've gathered along the way?
NeuroticFish, as already gave a detailed reason why you can't mine bitcoin with laptops. Also about the node, in Bitcoin you are not paid for running a node.