I don't know much about computer hardware, but i just came into some luck financially and I'm planning on buying a new laptop (which fits my lifestyle more than a desktop). I plan on spending around $1000 USD, so please help with my decision however possible. I don;t know what graphics cards are good, how much ram i should have minimum (for good performance) etc.

if you can find one with a processor that has like 4ghz maybe more
if you find one with 3-4gb that would also be good
I dont think a graphics card will change things all that much as long as you get one that supports what is needed in skyrim (anything from the last 2 years would probably work)
OS should be windows 7 or xp, dont get vista becuase it has a lot of bugs, xp should be like 32 or 64 so it can support more ram
that should be able to run skyrim
I am not an expert though so you may wanna get someone elses opinion

honestly i have never been a HUGE fan of laptops since if a component goes bad it is a pain to replace.. say a keyboard that would be easy to replace with a desktop you have to actually get it repaired as a laptop. Upgrading laptops is annoying too. If you must get a laptop I would probably try to go above 1k if you can. Have you seen the alienware laptops? Those are like 5k though... You should go on Newegg and look around at user reviews for the price range you want. Look for gaming laptops specifically and see how it is rated by gamers, not by college students who only want to use the internet on it and play solitaire.

To buy a desktop >.>...

Honestly for specs, I'm unsure due to that we dont KNOW the specs for Skyrim yet. I'd aim for at least a 4xx Nvidia, or 6xxx ATi card, 6GB ram, multi core processor, and a REALLY good laptop desk fan...

If you HAVE to have a laptop here is one for 999 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220875 ASUS N53JF-XE1 Notebook Intel Core i5 460M(2.53GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm BD Combo NVIDIA GeForce GT 425M w/ NVIDIA Optimus

2.5+ghz processor 2+ cores
3gb+ ram
windows 7, xp 64 bit
ati radeon hd 4000 or 5000 equivalent graphics

I am not familiar with the radeon's myself. What is the best radeon card out there right now and how do they range? I am used to nvidia and their useage of "hundreds" like 400 series, 500 series etc.

if you do get a laptop make sure it is quality laptop or else you will need to replace it, and that will just cost more money

if you can get a desktop, it could be cheaper it will probably be better easier to replace parts and do you really need to video game on the go

Okay I've done some research and i think i found the best value laptop capable of playing Skyrim (only ~$850). I want to be able to install some graphics enhancing mods too, what do you guys think, are these specs up to par?

Here are some of the specs:

Brand
lenovo

Series
IdeaPad

Model
Y560(0646-54U)

Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

CPU Type
Intel Core i7-740QM(1.73GHz)

Memory Size
4GB DDR3

Hard Disk
500GB

Optical Drive
DVD±R/RW

Graphics Card
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730

Video Memory
1GB

CPU Type
Intel Core i7

CPU Support
6MB L3 Cache
Turbo boost up to 2.93GHz

Hard Drive

HDD
500GB

HDD RPM
5400rpm

HDD Interface
SATA

xoticpc.com

By far the best affordable gaming laptops you can get.

It's a multiplatform game thats stated to have minor improvements PC end, so really a 600-800 basic best buy computer should do the trick just make sure it comes with a dedicated gfx card and you'll be set (9800gtx 1gb<) Multiplatform games using the same engine as a previous title on the same console platforms are quite easy to figure out spec wise.

Unless you desperatly need a laptop you really would be better of getting a desktop computer for the simple 2 facts

- Easier to upgrade
- Much Much Easier to repair if something goes wrong because it isn't all super small and all in one small unit

A desk top PC is also more powerful

The two bes seiries out ATM are the hd 5000 and hd 6000. With the 5000 either the 5850 or 5870 are the two reasonably priced Cards. With 6000 it's the 6950 and 6970. The 6000 seiries I mentioned scale better, have higher frame rates in benchmarks and preform tesilation better but cost more


that would be a excellent gaming rig especially for that price

If it must be a laptop, you want to make sure you are covered in the following areas:

• minimum 1600x900 or 1920x1080 display resolution - IMO this is the minimum for full enjoyment of Skyrim or any recent game
  
• discrete DX11 video card, needs to be at least equal to 1GB NVIDIA 460M, 1GB AMD 5830M or better
  
• at least 4GB RAM
  
• win7 64-bit
  
• 2-year or 3-year warranty (a recent study showed that most consumer laptops need some kind of repair within 3 years)

You may want to look at some of the http://www.xoticpc.com/sager-np8150-built-clevo-p150hm-custom-gaming-sager-notebook-p-2972.html?wconfigure=yes

IMO the 5730 is not acceptable for gaming, you will not get playable frame rate for vanilla Skyrim at 1920x1080 or 1600x900 resolution. Forget about graphics mods with this laptop.

Also, what is the display resolution of this laptop? Below 1600x900 you are really missing out on the full Skyrim visuals.

On those sites, why cant they give you an estimate of the games they can play, so customers actually get a good idea of what they are buying? Maybe include something like system requierements lab, that tells you an estimate of how well the computer you wanna buy can run the games you want.

Actually, there is a great website that compares laptop video cards and their benchmarks in various games - http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Laptop-Graphics-Cards.130.0.html

It's pretty easy to figure out if any laptop will be able to play whichever game you are interested in.

Basically, if you want to play a recent game high settings at 1600x900 or 1920x1080 resolution, you need a video card at least NVIDIA 460M, AMD 5830M or better (you can refer to sites like notebookcheck to see which cards are ranked better).

Don't be scared to get something with Vista -- I've used it for three years now, and I'm perfectly happy with it. One thing you have to be careful of is installing games in the default folder, 'cause then the UAC will freak out on you every time you try to do something (the default is Program Files x86). Just install your games somewhere else -- the path I use is C:/Users/ProfileName/Games/Game Developer/Game, and it works perfectly fine for me.