Are there any GPU emulators you can use to run simple CUDA programs on a commodity laptops, just to get comfortable with the mechanics, the toolchain, etc.?
https://leetgpu.com/ emulates running simple CUDA programs in a web page with zero setup. It’s a good way to get your toes wet.
Commodity laptops can just use regular non-emulated CUDA if they have an Nvidia GPU. It's not just for datacenter GPUs, a ton of regular consumer GPUs are also supported.
A commodity laptop doesn’t have a GPU these days, iGPUs are good enough for basic tasks.
You can get VPS with GPU's these days, not super cheap, but affordable for those in the industry.