Laptop for skyrim?

[xbladeallen]

Hello. I have been digging around for a gaming laptop that can be used to play skyrim at a medium or high quality that is also able to run mods. I came across these which seem to have a good performance from reviews but might aswell leave it to the forum.

 

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-3521/fs

 

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/dell-inspiron-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-4gb-memory-500gb-hard-drive-black/3840039.p?id=1219093972934&skuId=3840039

 

http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-17-3721/fs

 

If your wondering why i'm not talking about a custom desktop is due to space issues, no place in my room to place it or no place in my living room.

[Rennn]

Not the one from Best Buy. It has Intel HD 3000 graphics, so you'd be lucky to get Skyrim running on minimum at a bearable framerate.

 

Out of the ones you listed, this one would be the best option. http://www.dell.com/us/p/inspiron-15-3537/pd?oc=fncwc2405s&model_id=inspiron-15-3537&

It's almost identical to the other dell you listed, but the key factor is that the screen in 1366x768 instead of 1600x900, meaning games will be easier to run at native resolution (and you should pretty much always try to run games at the native resolution of your screen).

 

This would be a better option. For games it's about 50% faster than the options you were looking at. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834312829

(Note that it will require a BIOS update once you get it)

 

However, you really want to avoid integrated graphics chips altogether, and that's a weakness that all of the options you listed have.

If you have a little more money, this is miles ahead of the options you were looking at. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834231455

 

If you were in the market for a desktop, it'd be easy to build a compact one that could run Skyrim on high/ultra for $500-$600 and outperform all the laptops, keep that in mind...

Edited March 17, 2014 by Rennn

[dandyB85]

I have a Dell XPS 15 laptop. I'm running around 160 mods with no issues. I do run into frame rate issues though when using all of the HD content.

[Rennn]

I have a Dell XPS 15 laptop. I'm running around 160 mods with no issues. I do run into frame rate issues though when using all of the HD content.

 

Somehow, I'm guessing $1000 is out of his budget...

[xbladeallen]

Alright, thanks for the help. The dell one and the lenovo G505 seem to be the ones I plan on buying.

[dandyB85]

 

 

I have a Dell XPS 15 laptop. I'm running around 160 mods with no issues. I do run into frame rate issues though when using all of the HD content.

Mine was refurbished, I figured what could go wrong already did lol. I still got the one year warranty and paid $700 shipped. Still expensive though.

Somehow, I'm guessing $1000 is out of his budget...

[xbladeallen]

Well if I was to build a desktop, here are the specs.

 

 

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 650 1024MB GDDR5 - $107

CPU - AMD FX 4100 4-Core Processor, 3.6 4 Socket AM3+ - $109

MOBO - ASUS M5A78L-M LX PLUS AM3+ 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $55

RAM - Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz - $43

PSU - Corsair Builder Series CX 430 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS (CX430) - $46

HDD - WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM - $63

CD - Lite-On Super AllWrite 24X SATA DVD+/-RW - $21

Price: $471

[xbladeallen]

OH! Forgot to mention I don't intend to run the game on ultra, I'm alright with running the game at low and medium settings. Aslong as I can play and I can see stuff without the game lagging it's ass off. Will those laptops be ok with running the game on low settings?

[Rennn]

The two laptops I suggested would run Skyrim well on medium-ish.

The more expensive two laptops you suggested *should* run Skyrim on low at good framerates. I don't know from experience though, because I've never used integrated Intel HD 4000 chipsets. I'm just basing that on benchmarks. Benchmarks say that they would get about 30 fps (good) at low settings at 1366x768. It might run better, it might run worse. Idk.

 

If you were building a desktop, those are good part choices. I would have recommended almost the same things.

However, I would recommend the new GTX 750 SC instead. It's significantly faster than the 650, and actually takes less power for only $10 more. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487026

Also, this CPU is faster and the same price. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113287

Wouldn't you also need a case and an operating system? Something like this could work for a case, since you're short on space and would have a Micro ATX motherboard. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147123

[Thor.]

I am also on a look out for a decent latop that can out put 1080P via hdmi without lag or anything,

 

I recommend the 8320 because multi threading will become a thing in the near future with the latest console being 8 cores with multi threading enabled. If you want to be future proof.

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285

 

If it was a desktop build i would recommend this cpu above.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Thor.