I did this tutorial and maya didn't crash but wouldn't really bevel either. The problem for me was that the scale of the bevel was wrong. This happens all the time with these types of commands.
What I had to do was measure the object that you have created using the 'measure' tool and then pick a sensible size for the bevel.
Your computer is probably crashing because it cannot compute the bevel for the parameters you have set. Try changing the values to more realistic numbers and hopefully it'll work.
I finished the tutorial and with the HDRI image the render looked fantastic. The first time any renders of mine have looked good with so little effort.
Good Luck