So going back to the top Suzanne, I take it the current laptop used to be able to to do all this with no hassle? If so then there might just be a wee problem here or there that needs fixed, rather than spending a shed load of money on a new laptop/desktop? MIght just need some careful looking at what’s going on inside.
I am used to using WINDOWS, and PC / Laptops, it’s bad enough having to learn all the editing suite and I am still a,long way form mastering DaVinci - or even starting coour grading yet - so I would prefer to limit the new learning, rather than to move lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels over to a new OS that I am not familiar with…
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At least DR works identically on Mac.
As in that other thread, as a DR only machine I may consider a Mac Mini - M2 or M3 … but that’s for the future for several reasons.
If I moved to Mac the cost of specialist software (Win only, or not transferable) would be more than the Mac. #WontHappen
This is a very good point, all the (multi platform) programs are the same to use across the platforms, be it video/photos/audio editors.
And we all use the same browsers for everything else so the OS is pretty much irrelevant now unless your using some propriety crap (like I have to use for work) where the OS is more important
It was originally 8GB RAM and is about 5 years old, the 2 internal disks are 512GB for the OS and programs - that is pretty full - and ATB for the file storage,and we tend to keep that at about 300 to 500GB, transferring the footage onto an external HDD once it has been worked and I dont need to access it any longer… I have the music stored on the external HDD too, its aWD Elements 2TB but not particularly fast, so accessing it to get the music files may slow it down a bit, I wonder if swapping the files onto the internal 1TB HDD may help?
TBH I havent looked at whay its slow, I just assumed that was normal - its Lee’s computer, and his file organisation is not good, he is dyslexic and tends to save things where the computer thinks they should be, I have tried to prune it, but gave up as its so difficult to work out what he has done…
I think a new laptop / desktop for me to use for editing and that I can controol the file storage on is the way forwards, as it will also mean I can use it at the same time as he is wanting to use the comuter - at present I use a works laptop (with permission) for social media - and have to do my video editing when he leaves for work at 6am or on a Friday evening when he works late - or I hijack his computer and leave him with his phone for internet access…
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DELL Inspiron 3793 P35E, with a 1TB HDD, and upgraded RAM from 8GB to 24GB, its a 10th gen Intel i5…
Had it apart twwice, once to add the 16GB memory and once to replace the power coupling which broke…
How full Suzanne? it may be there is limited space for the swap file that could be causing slow performance.
TBH no, when I started rendering video with the MINI3 Pro in August last year it was taking anything from 20 mins to 1 hr + to render 3 to 5 minutes of 4k 30fps, now I have the AIR3 and have some footage in 4K 60fps it struggles to play the 60fps when in dDa Vinci (plays ok when just watchng the raw footage using the media player) and takes a lot longer to render it…
Again, in comparison, my laptop is similarly 512GB system SSD and 1TB data … without bottle-necking … other then when processing a 1000+ RAW images for timelapse … so that’s rather understandable. 
IIRC it is 95% full, but nothing on there other than OS and program files…
Have you run Task Manager when it’s running slowly, to see which resource(s) are running at high usage percentage?
No, will try that…
I bet it will be an older spinning hard drive too, sometimes swapping the original HDD for an SSD can speed things up quite a lot
Exactly what I done with my old Mac & it flys, but no good for me at least with todays day & age of editing, but still works perfect for every other task as in mixing music etc etc.
Again - as is mine, of an older age, without it being an issue. 
I would try clearing space on the OS drive as I think your swap file is struggling.
A swap file usually is around 1.5 x your RAM, in your case approx 36 GB
If your drive is 95% full then there is only approx 25.6 GB free.
Worth a shot if you can clear any clutter like temp files etc.
Ok, on Lee’s account, on his laptop… This is a Task Manager SS when playing a 4k 60fps in DaVinci Resolve.
Looking like CPU bottleneck … that could be also a swap file issue.
GPU usage?
And where are your DR temp files located?
where do I find that?
