Intel HD Graphics 3000

Yes, I play it on my laptop (I would assume same shitty model Dell Inspiron) in class when the lecture is boring the shit out of me.

Get a real graphics card, internal... while getting better than they where, still suck as they shared system memory... none of the latest games are designed to run on them.

i speak from experience, yes it can run well on the lowest setting.

If youtube videos show an Intel HD 3000 getting 20-40fps, then an Intel HD 3000 will probably get 20-40fps for you as well. However, I'm seeing videos suggesting that Skyrim on medium settings on an Intel HD 3000 will get 10-20fps, not 20-40.

You will not get very good results, but it will run.

What about Civ 5?

A better question would be, is it better to get Civ IV with maxed settings or Civ V with minimal settigs and longer load times?

Civ V looks awful on the lowest settings for water and fog of war.

its not a crappy integrated gpu. integrated gpu's have come a long way.

That's the GPU I have, and it's served me well for the most part. For being a laptop graphics card. I can't speak on either Skyrim or Civ 5, but New Vegas runs very well on my laptop. You should be fine.

Instead of Skyrim get the elder scrolls online beta

I live with a Intel GMA laptop for a year...it's maybe two or three level below than yours. I can run Skyrim on it with modified config someone made on internet or else the game will crash as you enter the intro.

My brother apparently has Intel HD 3000 on his Celeron B815, and it works on Skyrim just fine. He insists on having textures on High and max draw distance for actors, and turning on self-shadowing on a 1280x600 resolution. Going low for everything would probably improve the experience a whole lot more.