Newbie seeking advice

[tborrens]

Hello everyone.
I am fairly new to animation and not very computer savvy.
I have made 9 short animations so far, using smith micro pro animation number 9.
I really enjoy it, but my computer struggles, freezes and crashes quite a bit.
It makes it a nightmare to try to work on stuff.
On my last attempt, the crashing and freezing was so bad that I had to settle on a way simpler, half-assed version of what it was that I wanted to do.
I couldn't export it at all with 9. I had to install the trial version of 11, and use it's separate exporter thing to export it.
Here it is: https://youtu.be/Gr102quGAbs

I posted it to show you guys, so you could see the problems.
I find it very difficult to guess how quickly something will move across the screen when it is exported, because it doesn't always match what I see when I am building it.

I want to either upgrade my computer, or buy a new one, and I am considering purchasing smith micro pro animation 11.
My budget is pitiful, however I have a couple of good friends willing to lend me however much I figure I need to get set up properly to make cartoons, with zero pressure to pay back quickly. I hate owing money however, and will be in a kind of a rush to pay it off none the less ( I don't want to dig to big of a hole!).

None of the computer wizards that I know are into animation. Most of them recommend that I get the super expensive mac pro.
I was hoping I could get away with spending way less money than that.
Others suggest just upgrading my computer.
I figured that the people here would know.
My computer is about 6 years old.
the properties say : Intel Core 13 cpu 540@3.07 gHz
4.00 GB. Ram (3.8 usable)
64-bit os
windows 7 ultimate

I haven't had the internet at home for many years, so I have a hard time coming here to educate myself by reading other threads.
I am in a big rush to get back to animating, as I have given up until I can get the technical difficulties sorted out.
This is my one chance to get the set up that I need, so I don't want to screw it up.

Here is my other on line cartoon: https://youtu.be/Qk9oRBG3iiY

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[tborrens]

Can anyone tell me how I can find the info that I need?

[tborrens]

If you can get it to work smoothely on your computer, can you please tell me what kind of computer you have, so I can try to buy the same kind, with the same stats?

[paccer]

For now, make sure that the driver for your graphics is up to date.

[tborrens]

Thanks for the reply.