Can You Play Minecraft on a Laptop?

You can play Minecraft on a laptop. Minecraft is, after all, THE best-selling video game in the world, so it wouldn’t make a lot of sense if most laptops weren’t able to run it.

From the looks of it, it’s fairly obvious that Minecraft is not too demanding. 

But like all games, Minecraft has its system requirements so it’s good to know which laptops would do the job better and if yours can handle it or not. 

What Laptop Specs Do You Need to Run Minecraft?

While the minimum system requirements for Minecraft don’t seem like much — most laptops today come with those, or better, components — the closer you’re to the recommended requirements, the better your gaming experience will be.

Below is a table providing the minimum and recommended requirements for Minecraft:

The minimum requirements are for basic, vanilla Minecraft. To handle upgrades such as mods or Ray Tracing, you will need higher specifications, such as a solid Core i5 processor or at least a 5000 Series Ryzen 5 with more than 8GB RAM.

You can allocate more RAM if your Minecraft crashes every time it starts or the game gets a little intense. Keep in mind that certain components are upgradeable and others are not.

Can You Play Minecraft on a Laptop for Free?

Not unless you already own a copy of classic Minecraft that you had purchased before October 19th, 2018. Use that to redeem a free copy of the Bedrock edition, a.k.a. Windows 10 edition. 

If you are looking for a freebie, there’s a web-based version of the original game that you can play on your browser for free at classic.minecraft.net.

There is also, a trial version for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can download it from their website and see if your laptop can run it. 

Going with the full version, Minecraft comes with a subscription and 3 available payment options: 

• $9.99, one-time charge, valid for 30 days
• $26.99, one-time charge, valid for 90 days 
• $7.99, recurring monthly

The recurring $7.99 charge seems to provide the most value. With the other two, you have to manually make the payments to continue playing at the end of each period. 

Can You Play Minecraft on a Chromebook?

It’s possible, but you’d have to modify the laptop in ways that essentially change it from being a Chromebook in the first place.

Minecraft is made for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Chromebooks run on ChromeOS. To play Minecraft on a Chromebook, you’d have to “root” it to get access to the Linux kernel, which should then let you install the game.

Chromebooks are essentially light and minimalistic. The OS is entirely a browser, but if your specs match the minimum requirements, it should be possible to run the game. 

Since there’s no official support for Minecraft on ChromeOS, you could run into issues that may or may not be fixed through updates and you’d have to find workarounds yourself.

Classic Minecraft is a compatible option to play the classic version for free online though. 

What Are Some Budget Laptops That Can Run Minecraft?

Most budget laptops today even under $500 surpass the minimum requirements for running Minecraft. Let’s look at some of the cheaper laptops that can run Minecraft: 

Dell Inspiron 3511

CPU: Intel Core i5-1035G1 | RAM: 12GB | Storage: 256GB SDD | Display: Full HD 1080p, 15.6” | GPU: Integrated Intel UHD | Battery: Up to 8 hours

At the price, the specs are all balanced out well enough to run Minecraft without any issues. The speakers are just ok, but good enough for the price. 

HP 15

CPU: Intel Core i5-1135G7 | RAM: 8GB | Storage: 256GB SSD | Display: 15.6” Full HD IPS | GPU: Integrated Intel Iris Xe | Battery: Up to 7 hours

This laptop provides a great bang for the buck, with a high-performing CPU and an anti-glare and vivid IPS display. 

Acer Aspire 5

CPU: Intel Core i3-1115G4 | RAM: 20GB RAM | Storage: 512GB SDD | Display: 15.6” Full HD IPS | GPU: ‎Intel UHD Graphics | Battery: Up to 8 hours

Much like the Inspiron series, the Aspire series is one of Acer’s most popular and budget-friendly. The specs here are better than the Inspiron’s above, thus it provides a better value.

Do I Need a Gaming Laptop to Run Minecraft?

For the average Minecraft player, no, a gaming laptop won’t be necessary. If you see yourself going for mod packs and trying the RTX version, you might need higher processing power. 

Most gaming laptops have high-end specs that may seem unique to gaming, but can be quite helpful for people who need computers daily such as students, artists, designers, video editors, etc. In case you are interested in head to head comparison, we have an article about main differences between Gaming Laptops and Regular Laptops?

Drawbacks to gaming laptops typically include their weight and low battery life. They are also not very budget-friendly. Gaming laptops are more than capable of handling everyday use. However, they are usually overkill.

Conclusion

Most of today’s laptops, even the cheap ones, are well-suited for the casual Minecraft player, but gaming laptops let you get the most out of the game. They also help out with other uses such as more intensive gaming, and even college and work. 

We have already compiled a list of the best laptops for Minecraft, from high-end gaming to budget-friendly ones, so be sure to check out that. 

Related article: How to Fix Minecraft White Screen on Windows 10 and 11