will my laptop run KSP?

[stalagmike]

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. 

[Gargamel]

It’s better than my old potato that ran a heavily modded game.    It should handle the stock game fine, and probably have room for some mods. 

[Nichya]

I've been running running a heavily modded KSP on an i7-4510U for the last four years. It does have a dedicated graphics card, but just a Radeon R5 230, so even then the overall performance doesn't differ that much from yours. I increased RAM from 8 to 16 GB a while ago, mostly to be able to cope with all those mods, so now it runs reasonably smooth even when I throw in a few pretty graphics mods.

For a stock game with graphics settings turned down a bit, your machine should be just fine. And KSP is a wonderful game even on the lowest settings!

[AeroSky]

It's pretty similar to my specs, so I'm pretty sure it can run stock KSP with minor to no lag. I can run large numbers of mods, but I suggest avoiding graphics mods because it will seriously lag your game (On those specs of yours). I also suggest not using part mods until you're quite experienced in the game, because it fills up the part list a lot.

[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? 

[Geonovast]

I'm not sure how much it'll help now, since it seems you're not set up the same way, but...  this is how I handle Steam games with my daughter who's 11.

She has her own Steam account that she uses on her computer.  I never buy anything through her account.  When she gets a game, I buy it as a gift through my account and gift it to her.  That way there's no dealing with shared accounts and she can never buy games on her own.  If I'm not mistaken, when you give a game to an account, you can schedule the delivery.

There used to be ways you could buy codes for games, and then you could give your son a card with the code on it, but I don't know if that's still a thing.

[Kerbal Productions]

YES!

I have an i3 without a graphics card, but KSP works great, if not best.

It will work good, but better with a GPU. 

Bottomline: IT'LL WORK.