Why can't my laptop run mass effect 1?

Sometimes laptop graphics cards miss a few capabilities. So they can be incompatible with some games because there are some instructions they don't understand, even when the graphics card brute power is actually more than enough.

Sometimes non-standard screen resolutions can be an issue as well, but that's mostly for netbooks.

Older CPU. Very little memory. Slow graphics card.

because laptops don't have graphics cards the M on the 740M means mobile which is a cut down version with low power consumption

What error are you getting when "Mass Effect 1" stops to play? Try "googling" that error code and refer to solutions

The graphics hardware is more than adequate, but the CPU doesn't quite meet the minimum requirement.