I started out using Podium on a 2012 MacBook Pro, so in principal the age of your machine isn’t necessarily a problem, but I’m not a Windows person and don’t know all the issues of video cards there.
I seem to remember struggling with getting a custom emitter to show up. Don’t remember the details, but the finished example is here. I think it’s easy to have issues with light sources, but daylight should be easy. First test would be to render any test subject with daylight if only just to make sure it works.
One big difference between Podium and V-Ray to be aware of is Podium doesn’t see or render SketchUp sections, but V-Ray will. One cheat for interiors with V-Ray is to cut a section, and just let daylight flood in. Sometimes is works out, sometimes not. Example of this cheat is here.
The creators of Podium have their own bulletin board too, so you might get more answers there.
https://supodiumforum.websitetoolbox.com/