[boogies]

Linux Mint (Windows-like) is free and elementaryOS (macOS-like) is pay-what-you-want, $0 if you so desire (https://elementary.io/). It takes less time to flash a drive and boot from it than to endure one Windows update on my desktop (although you can also get GNU preinstalled on fairly Thinkpad-comparible laptops from eg. “Laptop With Linux” https://elementary.io/store/#devices, and Thinkpads themselves will likely ship with GNU soon — many Lenovo PCs are already certified for compatibility with multiple major distros).

[andymoe]

Thanks! This just made me realize the other requirement is that they can play Minecraft and that it does indeed run on Linux.

[boogies]

My pleasure!

Minetest is a free (libre) similar game, but very mod-centric, with mods loadable from servers without installing them (as easy as Roblox) and (also like Roblox) written in Lua, may be a fun intro to programming if they’re keen to try it (ofc there friends probably don’t play, but a couple boys I know ~7-10 enjoyed it to a kind of harmful level), btw.

[toastal]

If it wasn't for the GNOME lock-in, Pop_OS would be a great recommendation in the space for this sort of user