What specs am I looking for?

I bought a Chromebook for when I travel. I wanted something that would play movies I download and play video games that weren't too graphics intensive. Mostly strategy games like Rimworld and Civ V. The Chromebook turned out to be a mistake, as I could run Steam through Linux, but after a few uses it would stop working and I'd have to reinstall everything.

Now I'm looking at replacing it with a laptop. I don't want to spend more than $500, but I will if there is clear value. I want to play the games mentioned above, other non-graphic intensive strategy games, and possibly Skyrim (with some graphics enhancing modes, if possible). What specs should I look for, like what graphics card, RAM, processor, etc.?

 

Skyrim can be run with "middle Low" settings in a 5 years laptop with integrated gpu (20~30 fps).
But, when you feel happy with Skyrim and other games from steam, maybe you will want more.

In $450~$550 budget, try to check out these hardware:
CPU: Intel i5-1135G7 or AMD 5700U
RAM: 8G/16G DDR4 SO-DIMM (Expandable)
GPU: Integreted

 

For the games you mentioned, you'll want to look for a laptop with at least 8GB of RAM, a dedicated graphics card, and a solid processor, like an Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5. You could also consider getting a laptop with an SSD for faster load times.