Are there disadvantages to wearing armor as a mage casting spells?

There are mage robes in the game that give bonuses that are very useful to mages, like magicka regeneration. But currently I'm running around in armor, as a robe doesn't really protect me much if a bunch of undead are hitting me.

I'm thinking of developing my character into some kind of battlemage, so I'm wondering if it makes sense to stay with armor while casting spells.

Are there any penalties to casting magic when wearing light or heavy armor? If there are any, are they different for heavy and light armor?

Solution 1:

There are no penalties as such.

You just won't get the bonuses, which I guess you can class as a penalty.

With that said though, you get the bonus of extra armour, so it's more of a trade-off.

Solution 2:

There's no penalty for using armor. Also if you disenchant a necromancy robe or something at an enchantment table you can then apply it to whatever armor type you like.

There is a small catch with the enchantment route. You will find that you can only apply magic school enchantments to your chestpiece, and even with Black or Grand soulgems, the magic regen is capped at 10%. Unless you get enchanting perks!