Delayed responses in Photoshop Elements 15

I'm brand-new to Photoshop Elements, and I'm trying to decide if this is the program I want to buy.  I'm using the free trial of Photoshop Elements 15 on an iMac, running Sierra, and it seems to not respond very quickly.  It seems to take a long time to open, then when I click on something, it takes from 3-5 seconds to respond, and I often see the little "spinning beachball" just blink on and off before it responds.  When I use a slider, the slow response is a "jerk" from where it was to the newly selected location, which makes it very difficult to use.  Is this likely to be an issue because of the "trial" status?  I like the things I've learned that the program will do, but can I count on a smoother operation if I buy the program?