Hi, and welcome to the boards!
OK first off, a free texture maker? I'm not really sure, but I would suggest checking the tools and resources section of the boards. You can find it HERE
Secondly, I think your biggest problem... well, only problem with that PC specification, is the video accelerator. I know it's a laptop, so you can't exactly change/upgrade it... but it is going to really limmit the games you can play on it.
What kind of games do you like? RPG? RTS? FPS? It's hard to recommend something when you don't know what the person likes...
I would recommend something like Red Alert 3 myself... but then I'm not sure if your video card is compatible with it from memory. If you would prefer an older game, you can't beat Sacred if you like the RPG games, or Half Life 2 if you prefer FPS games... the online play for HL2 is still booming and lots of people play it!
Good luck, I hope that helps a little bit at least.
~Sol