Lenovo G500 vs the Lenovo T410?

I do not know about the different laptops you discussed, but I can shed some light on what a "gaming" laptop needs.

1. CPU: i5 or better for performance, anything that is in the 4000 range is the current series.
2. GPU: You do not want to get an Integrated GPU (aka Intel HD graphics) but want a Dedicated GPU (Nvidia 700/800/900 series)The higher the 2nd number (20-80) the better that GPU is. ex) 720 is not as good as a 760 and so on. This depends on how much you want to spend/what kind of games he plays. (If you could get some names, we could be more help!)
3. Hard Drive: Preferably an SSD (solid state drive) which improves load times for games but only come in higher end laptops. Here you can insert any 7200 RPM hard drive if you want to save some $$.

This was just a cursory glance of your question. I am sure someone else on here can inform you about the laptops above!

What is your budget?

Since your son is only 8 years he does not need anything very powerful. The laptops you have selected are a bit old especially the ThinkPad T410 and is not really meant for games due to dated technology. I am guessing you are trying to keep cost down so I recommend the following 15.6" Toshiba Satellite laptop from BestBuy for only $300 + tax.

Toshiba - Satellite 15.6" Laptop - AMD A8-Series

It has the AMD A8-6410 which provides pretty decent performance for the money. The Radeon R5 graphics core is a bit more powerful than the graphic core in the laptops you selected which means it is better for games.


If you can bump up your budget to $400, then I recommend the following 15.6" Asus laptop which has the Core i5-4210u and the Intel HD 4400 graphics core. The CPU is more powerful than the A8-6410 so technically it can last longer before you feel it is too slow for your needs. The Intel HD 4400 is also a bit more powerful than the Radeon R5 so your son can get better performance in games.

Asus - 15.6" Laptop - Intel Core i5 - 4GB Memory

These laptops do not perform as well in games as more expensive laptops with dedicated graphics, but I am pretty sure most games that caters to pre-teens have very low systems requirements so both laptops are fine for an 8 year old.

It depends on what Intel and AMD integrated graphic core models you are comparing. AMD's best integrated GPU is better than Intel's best integrated GPU, but not so for lower end models.

As for nVidia more recent generation GPUs, the GT 720m / GT 820m would be more powerful than the Intel HD 4400, but they are considered weak compared to higher end models. If you really want to push your budget on a laptop with a good graphics card for an 8 year old I suppose you can get a laptop with a GT 840m for around $700, but I think that would generally be a waste of money since games designed for pre-teens have very low requirements.

If you were interested in playing games that were rated for 17+ or mature audiences then I would recommend at least the GT 840m since those games generally tend to be more demanding. Of course that depends on the specific game.