Is an Apple Laptop Right for Me??

There are three qualifiers for a computer: cheap, high quality, and laptop. You can have two of those, not all three. That means that if you want a high quality laptop, good graphics card and processor, you can't have it for cheap. Now, for editing software, most people will say that an apple is the way to go. But if you are looking to game, I would suggest staying away from mac mainly due to the reduced amount of support, the the troubleshooting involved with game installation and software compatibility, and the fact that you are paying for the name. What I would suggest you do is look up a high end laptop that can run skyrim, like the following:

www.toshiba.com/us/computers/laptops/qosmio/X70/X70-ABT3G22

This is a totally decent laptop that you can customize. It has a geforce 770m, at least top 50 of current graphic cards available. It has an intel 7 quad core processor with a boosted 3.5 mhz rate. It's running a hundred on sale but if I were you, I would throw that 100 saved back into the 8 gb ram. Now, you're always going to have problems with a laptop running hot due to the confined space, you know that. But I always tend to try and steer people away from macbook's, especially if they are looking to do any sort of gaming.

Take that model and look it up on amazon for reviews, heating is of course the issue.  But it will show similar models and the ideal sort of stuff you are looking for.