What’s the best gaming laptop to replace a MacBook Air for Minecraft?
The keyboard layout, and having witnessed the blazing speed with which he does things in the game, I understand his reluctance to use his Alienware laptop. I know first-world problems. But for Playing Minecraft you need everything proper and to complete a few things in Minecraft you can use free Minecraft Gift Card.
Both machines are almost six years old and due a refresh, so I'm looking for a Windows laptop that is powerful enough to run games like Civilization 6 (with mods) but with a keyboard layout that is sufficiently similar to a MacBook that he can continue to use the muscle memory he has built up over the years. Does such a beast exist?
One alternative is to buy a MacBook Pro and use it to run Windows (either Bootcamp or Parallels), but the Windows performance strikes me as a compromise (for more money).
The budget is a maximum of £1,500. I would be more than happy with cheaper as long as performance wasn't compromised too much. Robert
Take your son to an Apple store or a good computer shop where he can try a MacBook Pro, ideally running Minecraft. In this case, my normal advice - stick with what you know - runs into the problem that what you know no longer exists, unless you buy a second-hand laptop.
All Apple's MacBook Pros now have touch bars instead of function keys, and I agree with Mac fan John Gruber that they have terrible keyboards. Obviously, personal taste is a major factor in keyboard preferences, and I'm sure some people like the "butterfly" keys that have had well-publicized problems. Either way, they are very different from the old MacBook Air keyboards.
Apple notes that "for some apps, you can make the function keys display permanently in touch bars" by changing the settings in system preferences, so this is something your son should try. However, I expect the new-style keys and touch bars will not map exactly to his "motor memory" so some relearning will be required. (I'll go into a possible solution later.)
If so, he might be prepared to switch to a Windows 10 laptop for Minecraft. Windows is the main platform for serious gaming, and many games - including Minecraft - run better on Windows. Also, he's young enough to learn to use a Windows keyboard with similar alacrity, which should stand him in good stead for decades to come. Older users can resist change because the relearning period is longer and the payback time is shorter, but that's a bad strategy for a child.
1. Keyboard mapping
I'm hopeless at Minecraft, and I've never played it on a Mac, but the main key functions seem very similar to other games. Normally, you move around using WASD as direction keys, which many people learned playing Quake in 1996. The right hand is best used for a mouse. (Playing action games with a touchpad is one of the punishments used in hell.)
WASD, the space bar and USB mouse controls are much the same across all laptops, so I'm not sure where the problems arise.
The obvious differences are in the four keys to the left of the space bar, where Windows and MacBook keys have different labels and different functions. For example, Apple has a Command (⌘) key that in most cases works like the Control (Ctrl) key in Windows. However, keys can be remapped to different functions.
Ask your son to show you which keys are used differently in Minecraft, and see if you can remap them on the Alienware keyboard. Sharp keys may do what you need, without the complications of using, say, KbdEdit or AutoHotKey. There are several alternatives.
Ideally, you would have two different keyboard layouts that your son can switch at will, using the standard WinKey+Spacebar shortcut.
2. USB keyboards
Another idea would be to use an external USB or Bluetooth Apple keyboard with either a MacBook or a Windows 10 laptop. This is better for your son's long-term health. Put the laptop on a riser, plug in the external keyboard and he will be typing in a more ergonomic position.
There are plenty of Apple-style keyboards available from Apple and third-party suppliers. There are even a few with the mechanical keys that many gamers prefer, though they may not match the MacBook Air layout closely enough for your son.
Getting an Apple keyboard to work with a Windows laptop might be a bit tricky, but whoever ran parkernet.com (now defunct) created a zip file (AppleProKBD_v2) that enabled an Apple Aluminium Keyboard to work with Windows 7. The file is available from mikecann.co.uk, where comments say it works with Windows 10.
3. Bootcamp or Parallels
If you buy a MacBook Pro then presumably your son will boot into Windows for games that don't run on macOS. In this case, Bootcamp should be faster. Parallels are wonderful at integrating the two operating systems, but it isn't designed for gaming (despite the latest version supporting DirectX 11 and having a "games only" option), and you don't need the integration. You'd be better off using a free alternative such as VirtualBox. The drawback, as you already know, is that you get less gaming performance for more money.
4. Possible options
If your son reckons a current MacBook Pro - with touch bar and butterfly keyboard - is usable, then the cheapest option is the 13in model with a 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5-8257U processor, 8GB of memory and 128GB of SSD storage for £1,299, without AppleCare. Increasing the storage to 256GB (you can't upgrade it or the RAM later) increases the price to £1,499, which is just within budget.