I've tried everything from mining bitcoin to litecoin to other altcoins....why do I have no luck? I am a beginner in the blossoming culture of crypto-currency, and unfortunately, it's beginning to feel as if 2015 is too late of a year for a laptop-user such as I to be able to start mining.

I'm running an Intel HD Graphics 4000 GPU, and an Intel Core i5-3230M CPU at 2.6 GHz. No, I do not have an ASIC, but I figured I'd at least be able to scratch out a few cents per month with what I have, not taking into account electricity or what not.

Immediately upon beginning to mine Bitcoin (BTC) using Slush's pool, which when I tried to mine was actually the newly updated stratum server 'bitcoin.cz'. I only got a hash rate of about 2-12 Mh/s, and the pool did not even recognize that the worker I had registered was mining. I have heard of people with relatively similar specs getting a rate of even 100 Mh/s, but I figured that this was just an issue of Bitcoin's colossal difficulty at this point of its lifetime.

So, I then looked into Litecoin (LTC). This time, my GPU was not even recognized by any mining software that I would try. I looked into updating the drivers and SDK's, and still I had no luck.

Finally, I decided that perhaps I could get away with mining some unique Altcoins, and due to the over 300,000% increase in profitability over Bitcoin at the time of writing, I chose to try to mine Diamond (DMD) and then try to exchange my profits for a fraction of a bitcoin. At this point I was not even mining for profit, but for the satisfaction that something was working. I configured my miner, and of course, my hash rate displayed at about 2 Kh/s on my GPU. Again, the mining pool (Danbi's pool) I had chosen to use did not even register that I was mining, and even after hours I made absolutely no profit.

So, after giving you all of this information, I ask of you this: Is it too late to mine any crypto-currency without spending huge amounts of money in mid-2015? At this point I do not even need to make profit, I'd just like to see that I have a fraction of a coin in a wallet somewhere (I did set up wallets for each and every coin I tried, mind you). Does anyone have suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong? I understand that what I'm doing is not profitable, but is it to the point that whenever I mine I really can only make 0.0000000 BTC/month (I'm not joking, that's the stat I keep getting)? 

I would pay you for your help in Bitcoin, Litecoin, or some other currency...but due to the suddenly centralized nature of mining, I can't. 

Sincerely,

A very discouraged Bitcoin enthusiast.
Laptop mining worked well in 2009. It is no longer 2009.

Your integrated Intel GPU has the speed of a CPU, not a fast gaming GPU. Even in 2011 when CPU mining was dying and people mined on GPUs your GPU would be too slow.

Yes, "even" people with 100 MH/s can't mine anymore. That's because 1000x that speed (100 GH/s) is slow at this point. 1 TH/s (1 000 000 MH/s) is OK for a small mining-at-home operation.

If you go way beyond laptops with Intel graphics integrated in the CPU, to small USB sticks with ASICs, even those are useless now. Some people pay $5 or $10 for a 1 or 2 GH/s USB stick (much much faster than your laptop). Not only is this incredibly slow, but it will never break even because the price per GH/s is extremely high.

What you need is a 1 TH/s ASIC machine, or faster, and electricity at a good price. You need to get this machine at a good price per GH/s or it will not break even. Make sure you take the price of a power supply into account as well if it is not included.