Apart from being a sidescroller, it sounds like you might really like Noita.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 also has incredible magic co.bat, but that's top-down, turnbased tactics.

Or maybe Psychonauts? Not a wizard, but an assortment of ESP powers gained at a summer camp like boy scout badges as you go through the game. 3d platformer. But the powers and their variety are really fun.

And there's Witcher 3, which is 3rd person. But it's close 3rd person at least? Might not run on your machine though. Maybe the 1st game might? Though it has its flaws.

For first person... Hmm. A surprisingly tough call. Most of the 1st person games I know have really straightforward battle magic, the wizard game included. Which is kinda weird now I think about it.

The Dishonored games? If you're okay with steampunk setting (very well done steampunk though!) 1st person immersive sims. Stealth or kill everyone however you like with a nice assortment of magic powers. I'd put this on top of the list honestly. It's old and stylized enough it might run alright.

Prey, like dishonored, also allows you to learn (optional) magic powers and use them in a variety of situations, but it's also set in space, if that's a dealbreaker. 1st person though!

Or the Persona games? It's not strictly speaking classic wizardry, but it's definitely magic of a sort, and I think it should run on most anything, especially Persona 4 Golden. But the fights are turn-based strategy. And 3rd person. Goddamn.

Legend of Grimrock? It's an odd duck, and you learn magic slowly, but maybe it's the right odd duck for you? First person, real time but you and enemies only move along a grid, old-style dungeon crawler.

Others have brought up Dark Messiah which I think is a very decent rec.

Dragon Age Origins has some pretty powerful mages, but it might lack the physicality you're after.

For Bethesda games I think magic is much better in Morrowind and Oblivion than Skyrim

Also, this is a little niche but Dragons Dogma has some awesome mages. It'd a little punchier and more action oriented than most western RPGs.

Lastly, Guild Wars 2 has surprisingly fun combat for a decade old MMO and it's free.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic? Lol it's and oldie but a goodie, that one will run for sure.

• The Bioshock series supports a spellcasting-based play style with a decent skill tree.
• CONTROL also involves a lot of eldritch force powers in its combat sequences
• I know you didn't really want sidescrollers or top-downs but Noita and Magicka are pretty great at delivering on the creativity of mage combat and scratch this itch for me.

This YouTube creator has published several quality videos what's going on in Wizard Games lately, which is a quick way to catch up on the genre: https://youtu.be/quPKQIVEX5A

Have you considered Enderal? It's a total conversion mod for Skyrim on steam, so the bones of it are the simpler Skyrim systems- but it overhauls everything and has excellent world building and quests to boot. A full mage playthrough/build is very fun/rewarding. Just understand that it is NOT Skyrim. It looks like it sometimes, and there's definitely still that Bethesda jank, but it's its own beast.

Lichdom: Battlemage?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/261760/Lichdom_Battlemage/

If your laptop is having issues running Hogwarts Legacy, it might be relevant to include your laptop specs as well as some more specifics on what you're looking for in a magic game.

Do you just want the magic system to be simple, or do you also want a simple, casual game? For example, Little Witch Nobeta has a simple magic system with a focus on magic combat, but it's a Souls-like, so it could be on the difficult side.

Two Worlds 2 had a very interesting idea for a magic system where you find cards and slot them to create and modify spells. It's pretty jank but maybe worth a look. The game also had one of the most interesting multiplayer setups for open world rpgs I've ever seen.

Isles of Etherion? It's probably even more demanding though.

Check out Magicka. Simple (-ish), unusual and really fun with friends (combos!) but also totally doable as a single player.

How could anything be simpler than skyrims magic?