If I was to by a new laptop today to play Skyrim well, does anyone have any advice regarding the specs.

If anyone could give a make and model, that would also help e.g; Dell, Asus etc.

look around, you want a laptop able to run all 4 cores at 2.6 ghz ideally, so you can run low shadows without it lagging

so an expensive beast, or find a laptop that is known to work with setFSB or use an extreme series mobile processor and manipulate the cpu multiplier

a quad core laptop with a 3.5Ghz CPU will be hella expensive, medium shadows will run perfectly smooth on it though

most mid range to high midrange mobile graphics cards will be good enough as your limited by the CPU

My Laptop plays this game on Ultra (See specs in signature), with a good number of High-res mods. I don't use the official high-res pack though.
It's really easy to overclock mild or extreme the CPU, all the way up to 3Ghz, it can go beyond that.
It doesn't really need a Core Voltage increase to get really high clocks so heat is okay.
Most the time I overclock it while also massively reducing the Core voltages.

The overclocking potential of this Processor is easily it's greatest strength. It's also very easy and safe with simple guidelines.

A Good Llano based laptop with a dedicated Card and 8gb of ram, is often done for under $900.
If this interests you, I can make some suggestions.

I have a modified (for pro audio) Clevo P150HM, that's a 15" laptop with a 1.5GB GTX560m, 8GB ram and an i7 2820qm 2.3ghz processor. Really doesn't have any major issues playing Skyrim at all, even with everything turned up to maximum it bottoms out at around 25fps in 1080p when looking down on Whiterun from Dragonsreach. Not amazing but still playable, stays around the 60 mark in most interiors. Since mine came with a custom bios and all sorts of tweaks to get it working with pro audio firewire cards (current windows laptops are a PAIN with firewire, only thing macs are currently better for IMO), I suspect you can get one of them with a much better GPU fitted for a decent price. Of course it depends what you specifically need/want, it's one to consider but do your research, figure out what the best performance-to-budget ratio is, some high end machines you might end up paying hundreds just to eke out a few FPS you probably don't even need.

EDIT - oh yeah it's also pretty low-profile, which means you can play it on the train without drawing the attention of scallies who want to mug you for your shiny-glowing laptop haha. They'll go bother the kid with the glowing fruit on his silver laptop and the overpriced Dr Dre headphones on.

I'm on a Samsung QX412, it's not a beast of a laptop.
Core i5, 6GB RAM, GT520M. OS is Windows 7 64-bit.

Plays Skyrim well in 720P with quite a few texture mods (including Flora and Lush mods). No HD packs.

I play on an ASUS G73JW-A1 and I got it because I like it to be mobile so I could hook it up to the TV (hdmi cable) and sit in the living room. I can play on HighRes but not Ultra and it works great. I think I could have done better cost-wise if I'd known someone who could build a desktop for me but I didn't know anyone so got this. I wonder if I can upgrade the Nvidia graphics card without too much hassle. These are the specs from Amazon.

• Intel Core i7-740QM (1.73GHz Quad-Core with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz)
  
• 8GB DDR3 1333MHz, 4 SODIMM Sockets, up to 8GB
  
• 1TB (500G 7200RPM x2) HDD; Blue-Ray Disk Combo Drive; 802.11 b/g/n
  
• Nvidia GTX 460M Graphics with 1.5GB GDDR5; Windows Home Premium 64-bit Operating System
  
• 17.3-Inch Full HD (1920x1080) LED Display; 2.0M Webcam; Gaming Backpack and Mouse;EAX 5.0 Sound Thx True Sound

To give an example of a good laptop to get. Based on a system I know performs very well.

HP DV6z
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&series_name=dv6zqe_series&a1=Processor&v1=AMD

The Base Configuration is $550 US dollars (They have a $100 instant rebate).
You however will want to upgrade and customise this for some slightly better parts.

Recommendations:
+ $70 - AMD Quad-Core A8-3550MX - One of the best Llano APU's. MX ones tend to be best suited for overclocking.
+ $75 - 1GB AMD Radeon HD 7690M GDDR5 - Having a dedicated card is Ideal for this APU (They can work together).
+ $60 - 8GB DDR3 System Memory - Gives you all the RAM you should need.

These upgrades bring the Tally to: $755

Optional:

You can increase the HD size and speed for a small price, or even stretch to a SSD.
However the standard 640Gb size is big enough for most, opting for the 750Gb HD which is 7200 rpm, for the small speed increase is a fine choice for only $60.
A SSD is however an expensive investment, depending on size. Personally I think the option HP offers is overpriced. An After market one might be better.

You could also upgrade the monitor for one of a higher resolution.
However their will be limited usefulness in doing so on a screen on only 15" to have a resolution of 1920 x 1080, when 1366x768 still looks good.
This will set you back $150 if you opt for it though.

I play it on High with all distance settings at Max, native res (1440x900) and the High-Res Textures on my Macbook Pro 15".

8GB RAM, 2.4GHz i7, 6770M 1GB, Win7 64-bit.

firstly....

NO. Dont get HP. Trust me. Never get HP or DELL Laptops, i am serious. Dont even think about it. The reason why they are so cheap is because they have the highest failure rate and bad ventilation. The HP dv6,9 series are infamous for overheating. Playing heavy games like skyrim(CPU, gpu dependent) will burn ur laptop in 1-2 years. I have a dv6 myself so i know how bad it is.

About gaming on a laptop. You MUST ensure you monitor your temperatures. Gaming on a laptop is very bad since it creates overheating. Get a laptop cooler if u want to game, and stay under 27 degrees celcius room temperature. I recommend u to get a desktop for gaming, but if u really want a laptop, then it is vital to take extra care.

Now back to the topic. Good brands i can think of, is Asus, toshiba and Sony. These 3 brands have the least failure rate and least over heating issues.
Specs:
If you want HIGH settings(game default high settings) without any texture mods(e.g. skyrim 2k), and want to make sure your laptop doesnt overheat that quickly, get:
-any i7 or i5 laptop. i prefer i7 though.
-GPU, i run on AMD 6570 HD on High settings and many texture mods with 30-40 FPS. You can look around the 6500-6700 HD series for a not-so-expensive laptop and 6800 HD+ for a high end laptop(which GIVES you Ultra settings). Not sure about Nvidia counterpart, as i like AMD more.
-RAM, 4gb +. I prefer you get 8gb or more, but 4gb is good anyway.
these are basically the specs u need. remember, dont buy a laptop on the spot like me or u will end up regretting after looking at its negative reviews.

On a side note, HP laptops are not trash. They are really good, because they are a good buy. They come with high end specs at low price. But low price will most likely give you a shifty customer service and overheating etc. Just get Asus...

The old style Dv6 models, especially ones with Intel in them, yes they over heat easily.
Most of the mobile i7 range is not an ideal choice for a laptop since they will run hot if you use it at 100% for long periods of time, like Gaming.
This is something I expect Mclericp, has seen with his laptop and expects the AMD range to have the same issue. It however is not true.

The old Dv6 models were crap-tastic in overheating, I tried them, no doubt it's true. The newer ones are a huge improvement.
They did change the model design in the last 9 months or so for that reason, I wish they had changed the name, with the new design.

The AMD range that use the HP Dv6 name have the fans and vents in all the right places and overheating is a no longer an issue.
It's still a laptop, so it's far from perfect, but It is still better than it use to be.
Also Llano run a lot cooler than most processors in price and performance range.

I don't have any affiliation with HP, I just don't like mis-information, with a laptop I actually have more direct experience. While I've never any issues with Customer support, with any PC company in 10 years, it's one of those things that is generally mediocre with all the big companies at best. It doesn't get good with any of them, unless you pay big for it, even then you could get screwed. Which defeats the point most of the time.

True I use a laptop cooler, but then again I do that since I like to run my laptop at twice it's default clock speed. It's not truly needed and I prefer to keep it cool.
It's extreme overclocking once you go to 3.2Ghz. It will be quiet happy to run at 2.9Ghz without the cooler, maybe higher on an A8, mines a A6.

It's becoming a popular laptop range for over clocking for a reason. It can do it, not something people would be doing if it had an overheating issue.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/639355-definitive-dv6z-llano-overclock-optimization-guide.html

I use the original G73 with a Mobility HD5870. It is the Bestbuy model... refurbs run $800-$850 when available:

These are the best new bang4thebuck currently, but newer GPUs should arrive soon in a few months if you want to wait.

15.6"
http://www.xoticpc.com/force-16f2012-msi-16f2-p-3376.html

17"
http://www.xoticpc.com/force-1761-msi-1761-p-3152.html

Plays beautifully on a MacBook Pro 15" @ 1440x900 with an NVidia 9600 M GT. Newer models would fare better still.