Is my new laptop compatible with Skryrim?

[Gigapact]

Okay, so I slightly suck at computers and am not overly knowledgeable. I've always played games on console. Well I'm strongly considering getting Skyrim on PC for my new laptop that I finally just bought, I keep hearing it's a totally different experience with mods and whatnot, and I'm willing to learn how to do it all, it'll be a new experience.

The guy at Best Buy assured me that the new laptop I bought could handle a couple bigger games like Skyrim before I start noticing anything different. I almost bought a different laptop until I mentioned games, and he lead me to this one for my price range. So basically, will Skyrim run smoothly on my new laptop? All the computer jargon confuses me.... so please help.

Here's my new laptop: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-...38500050001_categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=6

If you scroll down there's specific info about the laptop.

Here's Skyrim requirements: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:System_Requirements

Do I reach recommended? THANKS!!!!!

 

[Gigapact]

Damn I posted it in the wrong thing again, I apologize. Been having problems with the site, I'm lucky I was able to post this... so please help anyhow if you can

 

[JoeReese]

Mine is a desktop, but it's got the same stats, except for the graphics card. I have the 770, but I think yours has the same 2gb. That being the case, I'd guess Skyrim will auto-detect "ultra" graphics settings. Mine runs ultra fine, for the most part, though it occasionally takes an extra second or so for far-away statics to load. It's ridiculously fast, compared to the PS3.

That being said, I'm no tech wiz, by any stretch. Try here http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyri and select Skyrim. The avast browser tool gives it the green (safe) checkmark.

 

[JoeReese]

Looking at the requirements link, it seems like the GT series for laptops may not reach as high as the GTX. The list stops short of the GT730 but lists the other GT series in Medium/Medium-low area, while the GTX 770 is in the extreme range. I don't know if that's going to affect you or not, because yours shows a 2gb card and mine is as well. I wish I had a better answer on that one.

 

[TheJackall]

Okay, so I slightly suck at computers and am not overly knowledgeable. I've always played games on console. Well I'm strongly considering getting Skyrim on PC for my new laptop that I finally just bought, I keep hearing it's a totally different experience with mods and whatnot, and I'm willing to learn how to do it all, it'll be a new experience.

The guy at Best Buy assured me that the new laptop I bought could handle a couple bigger games like Skyrim before I start noticing anything different. I almost bought a different laptop until I mentioned games, and he lead me to this one for my price range. So basically, will Skyrim run smoothly on my new laptop? All the computer jargon confuses me.... so please help.

Here's my new laptop: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-...38500050001_categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=6

If you scroll down there's specific info about the laptop.

Here's Skyrim requirements: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:System_Requirements

Do I reach recommended? THANKS!!!!!

I do believe your Laptop should be able to run Skyrim, not the biggest techie ever. Although you can get some mods which can increase your performance for graphics, while it still looks "kinda" nice.
These mods include:
Performance trees (Removes some trees)
Performance rocks (Removes some rocks)
Total graphics downgrade (Decreases all graphics in Skyrim(Not compatible with other mods))

 

[Gigapact]

Thank you both for your help!!! Will give it a go either today or tomorrow.

 

[shadowkitty]

Your laptop is more than capable. Lenovo is a great brand to. You have a GT 730M with 2GB dedicated (Graphics) memory which puts it in the high range. Seeing it's a new laptop you should have the latest drivers so you're good to go.

 

[Gigapact]

shadowkitty (sorry reply button isn't working) thanks! Do you also think I would be okay to put some mods on it? I know to be careful as some people complain about mods breaking their game, so I will do so. Really Skyrim is probably going to be the only game I have on my laptop. The only other things I'll have his my music, and plops for school like powerpoint, word documents, etc.

 

[shadowkitty]

You should be fine with mods. Take it slow, grab a few performance enhancing ones, like TheJackall said, see how they go then add a few more and so on. Have fun!

 

[Gigapact]

shadowkitty Okay cool thanks again. One last question, should I run Skyrim through Steam? I saw that you could either do it through Steam or some other program last night (can't remember name). Steam seems to be the better option... which did you pick?

 

[Toxius]

As Shadowkitty said, you'll be fine. However I don't think you would be able to play on Ultra, but then again they said that to me with my old 9600 gt and that proved them wrong.

Mod wise, as long as it doesn't add anything too graphical, or too many Npc's at once you should be fine.
You could run Quest, armour, weapons, spell and immersive mods such as Better vampires, Moonlight tales with ease.

Running through steam, while it depends on what you prefer but if you going to be running most mods you're going to have to use SKSE for that.
Also if you are going to go with mods, get LOOT (helps with mod load order and that general thing, also good if you are pretty new with mods) and there are other programs. Then again you can add the Skse loader to steam.

Personally, mods only break the game if you go about it all wrong.
Some of those points are not clean saving.
Adding a dependent Mod that alters part of a current quest or cell.
bad meshing or the mod isn't cleaned properly.

Well Goodluck with running Skyrim, and playing with mods.

 

[Gigapact]

As Shadowkitty said, you'll be fine. However I don't think you would be able to play on Ultra, but then again they said that to me with my old 9600 gt and that proved them wrong.

Mod wise, as long as it doesn't add anything too graphical, or too many Npc's at once you should be fine.
You could run Quest, armour, weapons, spell and immersive mods such as Better vampires, Moonlight tales with ease.

Running through steam, while it depends on what you prefer but if you going to be running most mods you're going to have to use SKSE for that.
Also if you are going to go with mods, get LOOT (helps with mod load order and that general thing, also good if you are pretty new with mods) and there are other programs. Then again you can add the Skse loader to steam.

Personally, mods only break the game if you go about it all wrong.
Some of those points are not clean saving.
Adding a dependent Mod that alters part of a current quest or cell.
bad meshing or the mod isn't cleaned properly.

Well Goodluck with running Skyrim, and playing with mods.

Thanks for the info! The only mods I would want to add are ones that, for example, add new armor and weapons. Add better weather effects, etc. I've been looking up "best skyrim mods" in google and seeing which are ranked the best and what players have to say about them. It seems that there's one that adds Khajiit quests in there and another one having to do with the northern parts and adding hypothermia and all that; seemed interesting.

The mods I want to stay away from are basically all the stupid ones, like making the dragons into Thomas the Train or My Little Pony, and making everyone in the game look like a whore, etc etc etc. I find it unnecessary.

 

[JoeReese]

I just want to say that you don't necessarily have to go the huge-mod route. Take a mod like Immersive Armors, for example. The author released components of the mod individually on steam (not sure about Nexus) so you don't have to get the whole mod and the prerequisite interfaces and all, just for one favored set of armor. If you find something you think you'll like, search for other releases by the same mod author and you may be able to get a much smaller mod.

 

[Gigapact]

JoeReese Okay thanks! I shall take that advice. Damn my reply button was working, now it's not lol. FML.

 

[JoeReese]

This site hates us.

 

[TheJackall]

Thanks for the info! The only mods I would want to add are ones that, for example, add new armor and weapons. Add better weather effects, etc. I've been looking up "best skyrim mods" in google and seeing which are ranked the best and what players have to say about them. It seems that there's one that adds Khajiit quests in there and another one having to do with the northern parts and adding hypothermia and all that; seemed interesting.

The mods I want to stay away from are basically all the stupid ones, like making the dragons into Thomas the Train or My Little Pony, and making everyone in the game look like a whore, etc etc etc. I find it unnecessary.

Mods makes Skyrim very unique. Here are some good ones:
Climates of Tamriel - Dynamic weather and options for different light levels.
Wet & Cold - Adds frost particles and dripping effects when you're wet or cold.
Immersive Amours - Adds lots more amours into the game.
Immersive Weapons - Adds lots more weapons into the game.
Skyrim Redone - Pretty much changes EVERYTHING. Stats, perks,
etc.
Falskaar - Adds another story line (Lore friendly)
Wrymstooth - Same as above ^^
Frostfall - Realistic needs (Hypothermia)
Race Menu - Very detailed character creation
4K Tattoos - Adds high quality tattoos
Quality 4K Snow - High quality snow (2K and 1K also available)
Alternate Start: Live Another Life - Custom starts (Good for RP)

These are just some of the great mods in Skyrim. All on the Nexus.

Little word of warning: When I started modding I included all of the above, and more. This created lots of running scripts. The more scripts running, the more chance of crash and saving issues. I would suggest most of the above (Not sure if your laptop can handle some of them) although I wouldn't suggest having all of them, just have a look at them on the Nexus and pick and choose some. I would highly suggest using LOOT and BOSS as they can help you add in and find the problems with mods. Performance mods are out there if you prefer your FPS over graphics quality and there are some less script heavy mods so you don't have a 70% crash chance on every loading screen. If you want quality graphics, ENBs are great! Just take a look round the Nexus for good mods, I would suggest manual installation over the use of NMM (Nexus Mod Manager) because you can find the problems easier. Although I use NMM because it is very easy to use.

 

[Morgan]

While my desktop is in storage I'm running Skyrim on a laptop with substantially lower specs than that, and it runs well enough with medium graphics. On my desktop I run on Ultra, and while I can see a difference, it's not as big as you would think.

I'm also a mod junkie and have had over a hundred running at once. I currently have around 40, even on the lower-end laptop. I've never had a mod cause any problem that I couldn't solve just by reconfiguring or removing the mod. I think the horror stories are a case of the vocal minority.

Mods come in several varieties. The class that just modify records, which is most of them, shouldn't affect performance at all. Loading a giant table is loading a giant table, regardless of the source. The mods that will slow you down are ones that add npcs, events, and terrain, and the ENB stuff (which are really just extreme cases of adding terrain).

To add to the list, get JaySuS weapons and Winter is Coming cloaks. These two relatively cosmetic mods alone can completely change the feel of the game.

 

[Daelon DuLac]

I can't even get my laptop to play porn on IE11 without buffering and pixilating all to heck. There's no way Skyrim is going to work well. I think I need a new graphics card.

 

[raido KASAI]

Like others said, I expect your system should run the game smoothly. I'd let it auto-detect graphics settings to see what it suggests, nut I'd suspect you should have little to no trouble in the high-ultra range.

Mods aren't really all that dangerous as long as you are cautious about it. Primarily make yourself an extra backup save file prior to adding a bunch of mods into the game. That way you can easily go back to where you were prior if something with the mod you are trying is a bit on the wonky side. People should be making redundant backup files anyway regardless of PC or console or modding/not modding. To be honest, there is more of a risk of losing a game file on a console than a PC as it's not uncommon for a quest to glitch and suddenly you can't complete an important quest. At least on PC you can clear glitched quests manually if need be.

Looking at the posted specs, it looks like a pretty nice laptop you got and a decent price to boot.

 

[raido KASAI]

I can't even get my laptop to play porn on IE11 without buffering and pixilating all to heck. There's no way Skyrim is going to work well. I think I need a new graphics card.

Sucks it can't even play porn. That was the whole reason Al Gore invented the internet.