I got the Archmage's robes and the Staff of Magnus by completing the Mage's College sequence.

I tried to disenchant the Arcmage's robes at the Arcane Enchanter, but the robes don't show up on the list of items available to disenchant.

I'm not surprised, really, because they are so powerful. But it seems like there is something about dis/enchanting I'm not getting.

--Are certain items not available to disenchant?

--Do I need a higher skill level to disenchant this item?

--Something else?

Thanks in advance, Daddyorc

There are plenty of unique items that simply can't be disenchanted. That's just the way it works.
There are also, probably an oversight, things like the wedding ring you get, which can be disenchanted, but you can't actually put the enchantment on anything else.

Certain items can't be disenchanted like "Savos Aren's Amulet" and things like that. Just generic items "Warhammer of Ice" etc. can be disenchanted. Once you learn a certain enchantment, you can't disenchant an item with the same type of enchantment. Also, Staffs can't be disenchanted. Now when it comes to enchanting, the most valuable enchantments are as follows (most value on the left):

• Weapons: Banish, Paralyze, Absorb Health, Stamina Damage

• Chest: Destruction, Healing Rate, Conjuration, Smithing

• Head: Archery, Destruction, Conjuration, Restoration

• Hands/Feet: Sneak, Carry Weight, One-Hand, Two-Hand

• Jewelry: Sneak, Carry Weight, Barter, One-Hand, Two-Hand

• Shield: Fortify Block, Fortify Health

I was hoping to dis enchant the robes as well. As a Mage they are by far the best robes you can get. But they are ugly

Once you get your enchanting to level 100 with the Extra Effect perk, you can make yourself better robes, so don't worry too much about it.

They just sound good tbh. I don't really understand how people can play mage without free spells. On the toughest difficulty with all boosts a typical non-trivial but still common foe needs like 5 incinerates in his tummy before yielding and often there's an sea of them. Meanwhile combat regen gives almost nothing.

This is more what a chest piece should look like:
[img]http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/1465/nicechest.jpg[/img]