For people with money, the Razer Edge Pro, Microsoft Surface Pro 2 and forthcoming Surface Pro 3 run Minecraft well. There are some YouTube videos that show the full Minecraft running on Dell Venue 8 and Venue 11 tablets with similar specifications, so you can decide if this is good enough. If you must have a tablet, the best option is a Windows 8 tablet, the cheapest being the 8in Toshiba Encore ( £179.99). Although there are some high-end tablets that are more suitable for gaming – see my recent answer, Which is the best 10in Android tablet for my game-playing son? – at £400, they are more expensive than many Windows PCs. Recent Apple and Android tablets are good for running the Pocket Edition of Minecraft, not the full version. (Minecraft is a Java program.) Tablets, hybrids and laptops Also, aim for a PC with a 64-bit operating system and 4GB or more memory, and make sure you install the 64-bit version of Oracle’s Java. The graphics card seems to be the single most important factor in Minecraft performance. My general advice is to buy something with a graphics card rather than “integrated graphics” (where the graphics chip is included with the processor). It all comes down to finding the best compromise between performance and price. However, running the full version with textures, smooth lighting, clouds etc and a high level of resolution at a high frame rate can challenge even expensive PCs. Almost any current PC (Windows, Linux or Mac) should be able to run Minecraft at the lower settings. One person sets a render distance of five chunks and thinks Minecraft is just fine at 30fps while another sets a render distance of 12 chunks and thinks 150fps isn’t good enough.Īlmost any current mainstream device – tablet, games console, laptop or PC – will run Minecraft, bearing in mind that only PCs run the full version.

Adults, let alone children, may not be aware that free enhancements have a performance cost. Real-world performance can vary dramatically depending on the settings chosen for graphics, lighting, textures, render distance, the number of mods and plug-ins installed, and the screen size. Apparently similar systems can run at 3fps (frames per second) or 300fps.

One of the problems evident from the Minecraft Wiki is that benchmarks are all over the place. I’m going to try to provide a broader answer. I answered a similar question last year ( What’s the best laptop for a child who plays Minecraft?), but it has since been raised again so there’s clearly an unmet need for advice. What are the options? Is there a tablet that can cope with the full version (not the Pocket Edition), or can you recommend a laptop? I am hoping to find something on a tight budget. My son wants a computer to play the full version of Minecraft for his birthday.

Minecraft tablet d