Premiere Elements 15 preview is heavily lagging

Thank you so much for replying

I am trying to edit 4k from a Phantom 4.

I am thinking it could be the problem with the Codec?   H264 vs H265?  

I am wondering if this could be the problem.  

I will try my edits on a more powerful machine to see if that solves the issue.

The project (since I am new to elements) I saw was listed at 1080 60FPS...however, I know my shots were in 30 FPS.  Could that be it?  If I set up the project in lower resolution, could I still export to higher 4k?    Another question.   Doesn't Adobe elements auto recognize the input and then set up the project based on the media?  If I mix and match footage for example, Go Pro/DJI Phantom, Canon 7D...will this cause laggy or preview issues as well?    I may have to upgrade to I7 with 16 to get something going here.  I am on an i5 with 8 RAM but I should still be able to edit.  Right now I can hardly preview, and nothing seems to be playing back.  I am getting 0 - 1 FPS after rendering. 

Your project settings need to match your primary footage.  Even with that, after doing some editing adjustments, you may need to "render" fresh previews.  The key to this is that a colored line will show up above the timeline in the Expert view during editing showing that a render is needed.

Listed system requirements are about the minimums to get Premiere Elements to run.  They do not provide what is needed to edit 4K.

What is the source of your footage, what are you trying to accomplish, what are the details of your computer and how are you setting up the project?

FWIW, I have a i7 laptop with 16GB of memory and routinely edit and output 4K from Panasonic cameras.  It exceeds the minimum requirements.  In other words, Premiere Elements is fully capable of working with 4K if the computer is strong enough.