Are you someone who requires a laptop to get their work done but still wants to be able to play Skyrim? Luckily you are living in the year 2023 and modern laptops can play some of the most resource intense video games out there.
The best laptop for playing Skyrim is the Falcon TLX. This laptop is made in the USA to the highest quality standards and technical specs. The Falcon TLX will not only play Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but will do it will hundred of mods added. If you’re looking for a laptop that will play Skyrim with no mods, the ASUS TUF A17 is your best bet and is very affordable.
I’ve been playing Skyrim for about ten years now and it’s amazing how well this game holds up to the games of today. That’s thanks to the fact that it was an amazing game when it came out, but also because of all of the mods that have been added since then. Playing a heavily modded version of Elder Scrolls V seems like you are playing a game that was just released.
The requirements to run Skyrim are not that high, but if you want to run mods and play at the highest settings it starts to eat up some resources, but still not as much as more modern high-end games. So I did 2 categories of the best laptop to play Skyrim:
- Best cheap laptops for Skyrim.
- Best laptop for heavily modded Skyrim.
Best cheap laptops for Skyrim
Can Skyrim run on a low-end laptop?
Yes! Skyrim is a beautiful game but if your playing at medium to low graphics setting with no mods it doesn’t take very much computer power to get it done. A low-end gaming laptop or even just a mid-grade productivity laptop that has dedicated graphics will do.
1. ASUS TUF A17
This laptop will not only play Skyrim, but it will do it with ease though it may struggle if you are running a bunch of mods. This is a low-end gaming laptop, but it is still a gaming laptop. It has an NVIDIA RTX 3050 video card with 4GB Video RAM coupled with a 17-inch 1080p monitor. Skyrim will look beautiful on this machine.
Key Statistics
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 4800H
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3050 4 GB
Display: 17.3″ FHD 1920 x 1080
Storage: 512 GB 3.0 NVMe M.2
RAM: 8 GB DDR4
Price: $800
2. Dell G15
Dell makes well-designed and reliable laptops. The Dell G15 gaming laptop will do a great job with Skyrim without getting bogged down or overheating. It comes with an NVIDIA RTX 3050, a 6-core AMD Ryzen processor, and a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor.
Key Statistics
Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 6600H
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3050 4 GB
Display: 15.6″ FHD 1920 x 1080
Storage: 256 GB M.2 SSD
RAM: 8 GB DDR5
Price: $650
3. Acer Nitro 5
Acer laptops are not quite as robust as the other 2 on this list but do have a better graphics card than the other 2 laptops on this list but the RAM and SSD are not quite as good. This is a great laptop that will look great while running Skyrim.
Key Statistics
Processor: Intel Core i5
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3060 6 GB
Display: 15.6″ FHD 1920 x 1080p
Storage: 256 GB SSD
RAM: 8 GB DDR4
Price: $750
Best laptop for heavily modded Skyrim
The laptops above will easily handle Skyrim at its highest setting, even with a few mods, but if you want to be able to play a fully modded version of Skyrim, you are going to need a high-end gaming laptop. You can run Skyrim with as many as 400 mods all at once but to do so will require a powerful machine.
1. Alienware m16
Alienware makes the best gaming laptops for the money. The m16 is one of the most popular models with great reviews. This build has all the hardware specs you’ll need and the legendary quality that Alienware is known for.
Key Statistics
Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 7745HX
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB
Display: 16″ QHD+ 2560x1600p
Storage: 512GB NVMe M.2
RAM: 16GB DDR4
Price: $1900
2. Falcon TLX
This laptop is overkill even for fully modded Skyrim, but this is my personal gaming laptop and I love it. This laptop never bogs down even when playing RD2. Made in the USA so it has first-class support.
Key Statistics
Processor: Intel i9 24 core
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB
Display: 15.6″ QHD 2560x1440p
Storage: 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD
RAM: 32GB DDR5
Price: $2500
3. Lenovo Legion 5 Pro
Lenovo makes great laptops at good prices. These are the laptops that I order for the company that I work for and this is the model I give to our Developer and Data Analysts with no issues ever.
Key Statistics
Processor: AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 3070 Ti 8GB
Display: 16″ WQXGA 2560x1600p
Storage: 2 TB M.2 NVMe SSD
RAM: 32 GB DDR5
Price: $1700
Skyrim laptop requirements
At max settings with mods
These are the minimum specs your laptop should have if you want to be able to play Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim fully modded at the highest settings.
- Video Card: NVIDIA RTX 3060 or AMD RX 5700 XT
- RAM: 16GB
- Processor: Intel Core i-5 13400F or Ryzen 7 5700X
At lowest settings
To be able to play Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim at the lowest setting requires:
- Video Card: 512MB with Direct X 9.0c
- RAM: 2GB
- Processor: Dual Core 2.0GHz Intel or AM
FAQs
Can I play Skyrim on a cheap laptop?
Yes, playing Elder Scrolls V with no mods does not take a lot of compute. As long as your laptop has a dedicated graphics card your good. In the list above there are decent gaming laptops in the $700 range, and if you are willing to buy a used laptop, you can probably find something in the $400 range.
Can I play Skyrim on a Mac laptop?
Yes, there are 2 ways to play Skyrim on a Mac laptop.
1-Play on a cloud with cloud gaming by getting an Xbox Game Pass account.
2-Install virtual machine software like Parallels or Boot Camp, which will allow you to run install Windows alongside your iOS and then install Skyrim on the Virtual Windows.
Can I use mods when playing Skyrim on a laptop?
Yes, but your laptop will need to have at least a mediocre dedicated graphics card.
Do I need a gaming laptop to play Skyrim?
No, you don’t need a gaming laptop to play Skyrim, but you will want a laptop with a dedicated graphics card. You can play Skyrim on some laptops that don’t have a dedicated graphics card but they need to have really good onboard graphics, and you will still struggle to get a good frame rate.
Does Skyrim run well on a laptop?
Yes, if your laptop has a dedicated graphics card, Skyrim will run well. If you have a good gaming laptop it will even run well with a lot of mods.