Working with Sketchup

I am putting this here because the project I started trying to draw in Sketchup is the cob house my wife and I plan to build when we get our land.

I literally cannot express my frustration with trying to use Sketchup. I see evidence that other people are able to work with it, apparently quite effectively.

In my case, trying to use Sketchup 8 on an admittedly old Toshiba laptop is a pure exercise in futility and frustration. Not really looking for advice or help, mostly just venting.

I have tried to follow tutorials, just working on developing basic skills. When the controls do not function the same way on my machine as in the tutorial, that becomes difficult and again frustrating.

Theoretically, computer assisted drafting is easier and faster than doing it by hand. In practice, for me, it is much worse than just a waste of my time.