stalagmike

Thanks for all the excellent replies. So it looks like his laptop will run KSP ok (for now). Next thing is how I go about 'gifting' it to him? The Steam account on his laptop is in my name so I can order it for him but then it will be hard to keep secret and there won't be anything IRL for him to open on Xmas day. I don't think disc copies of KSP are available. I guess I could just print out some image files and maybe put it in the sleeve of an old DVD case just as a dummy gift, and then install the game on Xmas Eve. Anybody else got any better ideas?

Intel Core i5-3210M CPU @2.5Ghz 6GB RAM (5.79GB usable) No dedicated graphics card. Will KSP run on this machine? It's my son's laptop. He's 10 and wants KSP for Xmas! I'm wondering if a mini-PC might be a better bet to avoid throttling and heat problems.