I primarily prefer it because it does pretty much all the Minecraft stuff I want it to do, and it's got other games available as well. Plus, completely Linux compatible and no Microsoft account!
I completely get where people are coming from with that opinion, but I've been playing MC for almost 15 years, and I'm having just as much if not more fun with the game now as I did at any other point in its development.
Minetest is super cool and can be very fun. I play a bit on it as well, but exclusively advertising for it on the platform of hur dur mineshit sucks, which isn't necessarily what you're doing, I just see that a lot, definitely isn't the best way to go.
Yes, it's certainly changed for the worse since I've played it. I quit fairly soon after they announced that I would need to eventually migrate to a Microsoft account. Seeing some of the things they've done since then doesn't make me miss it!
Sounds super cool :o ... Am still kinda salty about M$ blocking my account and holding my copy of Minecraft (that I paid Mojang for, well before it was Microsoft's!) hostage because they want my phone number, though. 😠
... Also I kinda wanna know if it's got the moddage I love about Minecraft, but am afraid to ask because I'm stuck on a laptop that can't really run much without getting all melty 😅
Yep, I didn't convert either of my accounts over as well.
I would just try it and see what you think of it! It's completely free. Minetest is the program you install on your computer, and then there are lots of different games that you can download and try inside of Minetest. There's more besides Minecraft-likes that you can try, and there are definitely mods available. I never modded Minecraft though, so I'm not sure how they compare.
As to system requirements, it could run pretty well on a six year old Android phone the last I tried. It might be worth a shot on your laptop! Be aware that it'll probably be a somewhat different experience than Minecraft, but not necessarily in a bad way!