What’s the best laptop for running Minecraft?

Sandra and others have asked for an update on buying a laptop to run Minecraft, so here it is ...

I read your article about the best laptop for Minecraft - which is what I'm after - but unfortunately it is two years old, so I assume very out of date in the tech world. We have Minecraft on Xbox but I am told that "mods" (which my son is desperate for) are much simpler/more straightforward to download to a PC version. What would you recommend? Sandra

This is a frequently asked question, so I should probably schedule an annual update. Joakim from Sweden has also asked for a Windows laptop to replace a "quite old" Dell Inspiron 1525 running Minecraft.