You probably got a disc with your camera "VIEWNX", load it, it is Nikon software that allows you to view your RAW files. You can also go to the Nikon site and download if you didn't get the disc.
I have the D750, upgraded from the D70, the lenses are interchangeable so I have the best of two worlds. Therefore I am partial to the D750, get another lens that will enhance your collection and maybe some misc equipment to improve your abilities to capture. The D750 is a fine camera and has a lot of capability..
I occasionally tweak and occasionally twerk, depends entirely on the mood and what requires reality or surreality. I enjoy capturing the moment via photograph however if I can enhance that moment then it can be shared as such with confidence that it was in the moment. PP can be an art of such so a little embellishment is an artistic venture, I guess all of this places me into the Twerking category in many cases.
I got ViewNX2 with my D750, used it a couple of times to compare against LR/PS, I'm sticking with LR/PS. The Nikon software is not too bad however the interface is not what I was used to so sticking with the Adobe products, choice is yours, you should at least try it to see if you like it, you can always blow it away.
Print and frame many of them, hang them in my house, give some to friends and family, I have the ability to print up to 13X19. I enter contests, keep the best on my web site and store them for future usages in folders 'Landscape', 'Seascape', 'Birds', etc. etc.... The folders reside on cloud, hard drives and other computer storage devices, I occasionally archive, remove those pics that I no longer will bother with, it's difficult to stay organized however, it's great rainy day activity when I'm not processing. I'll even blend images to make something different just for giggles.
If your looking for a comparison I can't do that however I do have the Nikkor 70-300. I actually prefer this lens over the other 4 I own. I find that I use this lens 80% of the time, I don't use the auto focus on the camera, I shoot manual so no comment there. The Nikkor is a Nikon model so it sounds as if your shooting with auto focus you might want the capability of the brand name and its functionality. Happy shooting with whatever direction you head.
Agreed with davidbb, but let's just let the PC'ers keep buying their crap and keep buying more of it while us Mac folks enjoy our long life without spending all of our money....... Enough said on this post, I gave my 2 cents earlier!
I would stick with Mac, I use a Mini Mac with 16G ram, process a lot of photos with no problems. 16 G on a Mac is like 32G on a PC plus your color balance between the pic, machine and printer is much easier to align. Just my 2 cents worth, plus trying to switch back is like taking a downgrade in technology.......
With all this discussion you haven't answered the one White Balance question, how did you have the WB set? Likely should have been set to Florecent to accomadate the indoor light. You could correct in PS just the water tones with some layers and masking if you want to take some time to fix it. Just some quick thoughts.
Sound to me like you may need more RAM, 8Gb is probably to inafficient for what your trying to do in fast motion, just a thought.
There may be some middle ground here, I have a mini-Mac, small desktop box that can be very portable. The initial 4G's of Ram made LR and PS slow significantly causing me to have to re-boot quite often. I upgraded to 16G,s of Ram and I now have no problems with slow downs. So, you can pick up a small box mini-Mac with that size Ram for around $500, of course the display screen to view the best will cost twice that. An older monitor will work however if it is large enough so you can use a new mini-Mac with an older monitor to begin with. Just a thought.
One of the rules in LR is to not move your folders or LR will not see them. What you might do is start a new catalog, import your thousands of files into that catalog and you should be able to work with them again. You may have to remove the don't duplicate check box in Preferences however you will be able to see and work with your files. The only other option is to move them back to where they were and move them from LR, that was your first mistake - I've done the same thing so don't fret your not alone.
So papajacknow20 - what's your final conclusion or did I miss it, did we answer your query?