What’s the best gaming laptop to replace a MacBook Air for Minecraft?
First, you can get an H-class Intel or AMD Ryzen processor, instead of a U-class designed not to overheat in an over-thin laptop. Second, you can get a dedicated graphics card, which usually makes a big difference with Minecraft. Third, you can get a laptop where not all the parts are soldered in or glued down, so you can upgrade them later.
What you can’t get for that sort of money is a very thin gaming laptop with long battery life.
Computer gaming is huge in Asia, so it’s not surprising that the three major Taiwanese suppliers – Asus, Acer and MSI – all have a strong focus on gaming. They have also been quick to adopt Ryzen chips. Typical examples include the Asus FX505DY (£649) and the Acer Nitro 5 (£679). Both have AMD Ryzen 5 3550H processors, 8GB of memory, and AMD Radeon RX 560X graphics cards with 4GB of memory. However, the Asus laptop has a 256GB SSD while the Acer has a 128GB SSD and a 1TB hard drive. (I’m linking to Currys PC World for convenience but other suppliers are available.)
Step up a level and you can get a faster Intel i5-9300H, 8GB of memory, a GeForce GTX 1650 graphics card and an SSD for £899. Options include the MSI GF63 Thin (256GB SSD), the Lenovo Legion Y540-15IRH (128GB SSD) and the Dell G3 15 3590 (256GB SSD, 1TB HDD).
Buying online, Lenovo’s 15.6in Legion Y530 gaming laptop starts at £699.99, but you’d obviously go for the top-of-the-range model at £899.99. This has a Core i7-8750H processor, 16GB of memory, and an Nvidia GTX 1050Ti graphics card with 4GB of memory. Storage is provided by a 7,200rpm 1TB hard drive plus a 16GB Optane accelerator in the M2 SSD slot, hence the low(ish) price. Later, you could increase the memory to 32GB, and swap the hard drive for a 250GB SSD (£45.59) or a 500GB SSD (£64.79), at Crucial UK not Apple prices. The M2 slot would take a 500GB (£64.79) or 1TB (£101.99) NVMe PCIe SSD module.
Dell’s equivalent is the G5 (5590) gaming range, which has moved to ninth generation Core processors. Prices start at £949, but the top-of-the-range model has a fast Core i7-9750H, 16GB of memory, a 256GB M2 SSD, 1TB hard drive, and a terrific GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card with 6GB for £1,279. Upgrade options are much the same as for the Legion Y530.
The specs make the Dell the best buy, but the HP Omen 15-dc1005na looks a lot more stylish. It only has 8GB but it’s upgradeable, its Core i7-8750H is a year older but the difference in performance is marginal, and you can get three years of pick-up-and-return service for £49.
If you want to look at other options, Ultrabook Review is keeping a list of laptops with RTX 2060 graphics cards. As it says, this is currently your best bet for laptop gaming at a reasonable price.