What specific issues are you having? What steps have you tried to solve them?

I can assure you, there is no service to " dig around under the hood to make Vegas perform properly."

If each and every issue is not documented and reproducible, it doesn't exist as far as the rest of the world is concerned.

Start here, and report each repeatable issue individually; there is no tune-up special.

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/important-information-required-to-help-you--110457/

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/faq-how-can-i-make-my-video-preview-play-smoothly-in-vegas-pro--104624/

Maybe a business opportunity for someone? ;)
I'll check these links out and report back.

OK, so let's just use this thread and abandon the other one (too confusing otherwise).

I suspect your issues are more related to the media you are using rather than the hardware. Details from the two provided links are required.

[Moderator Edit: Here's the thread that this one continues from]

From the hardware, O/S and media specs in your signature, it is unlikely that you have a disk I/O performance problem with two SSDs. There is a big disparity between your 4K media and the CPU and GPU horsepower you're able to throw at it.

Consider using Proxies for your 4K files.

I ran a test on an old system of mine that has similar cores and lower clock speeds...

...and proxies profoundly improved preview frame rates.

Here is a brief overview of how the sausage is made.

Note that I was also running a screen capture program (OBS) concurrently on this ~ten year old system.

OK, so let's just use this thread and abandon the other one (too confusing otherwise).

I suspect your issues are more related to the media you are using rather than the hardware. Details from the two provided links are required.

[Moderator Edit: Here's the thread that this one continues from]

Though I'm no "newbie" I've missed many years between when I was intensively writing and editing (and tweaking!) and now, when I have very little time (thanks to my 2 year-old!) to research and manage settings etc, so I can't discount any suggestions with any degree of confidence.
That said, this is not about the media I am using, as I am simply trying to get the demo which was provided with VP16 to run smoothly.
Once I get that to to run, then I'll put my files in and give it a workout.
I'm back at my laptop now and I have the next couple of hours to go through the suggestions in the links.

In answer to wjauch, thanks, I'm not really comfortable opening up my laptop and I've never "cloned" a drive before. When we get to the "last resort" stage then maybe it will be the way to go.

From the hardware, O/S and media specs in your signature, it is unlikely that you have a disk I/O performance problem with two SSDs. There is a big disparity between your 4K media and the CPU and GPU horsepower you're able to throw at it.

Consider using Proxies for your 4K files.

I ran a test on an old system of mine that has similar cores and lower clock speeds...

...and proxies profoundly improved preview frame rates.

Here is a brief overview of how the sausage is made.

Note that I was also running a screen capture program (OBS) concurrently on this ~ten year old system.

Thanks for the reply.
I can see that proxies are the way to go in this case, but I don't have any 4K media, I'm just trying to get the demo to run smoothly in VP16 before trying anything more intensive.
Given your example with a 10 year-old computer, it would seem that my system should be up to the job.
I've been reading a lot of posts and solutions today but it's frustrating that some people are having to do things like disable dll files before their preview will run properly, in the knowledge that they will probably have to enable them again in the future!
That seems crazy to me.
Shouldn't we be able to expect a new release to be an improvement on the last one rather than need to spend hours searching for solutions to bugs? (speaking mainly about the VP15 release now, I can't comment on VP16 as I've done nothing more than loaded the demo)
I expect there to be teething troubles with any new release but I remember using Vegas when it was Sonic Foundry (granted, the video quality and fx editing wasn't as demanding as it is nowadays) and I never had issues like these.
 

First, be careful about some of the advice here. Renaming your dll files is (as you pointed out) not a great idea. Vegas 15/16 has an internal setting and blacklist to take care of this.

Second, if I remember correctly, the sample project has a LOT of effects, generated media and titles in it. Maybe not representative of your workflow.

Can we get a baseline so we have an idea if your system is underperforming? Say, playback of "normal" 1080p camera footage. (Make sure to tell us the media details and project setttings.)

First, be careful about some of the advice here. Renaming your dll files is (as you pointed out) not a great idea. Vegas 15/16 has an internal setting and blacklist to take care of this.

Second, if I remember correctly, the sample project has a LOT of effects, generated media and titles in it. Maybe not representative of your workflow.

Can we get a baseline so we have an idea if your system is underperforming? Say, playback of "normal" 1080p camera footage. (Make sure to tell us the media details and project setttings.)

Thanks, I do appreciate the advice and I realise I wasn't precise enough in my explanation of the demo.
You're right, it does have a lot of effects and titles but I also tried soloing the video track and it still lags, but obviously not as badly.
So, with video track solo'd so just that (and audio) is playing:
Preview is set to Draft auto in a small, docked window and it freezes (consistently, reproducible - which is good right? :) every 90 frames or so and drops between 20 and 30 frames.
I have changed nothing since opening the program.

When I'm looking into your preferences and the specs in your signature, I have something for you to try out.

You have 2 GPU's the Nvidia GeForce® GTX 880M and the Intel® HD Graphics 4600.
Which one is selected to start VPro (rightclick on the startpic)
If it is also the Intel, my proposal to try out is to set the video hardware-acceleration in Preferences on the NVidia, both GPU's with the latest driver versions.
Most of the time I always use the Nvidia for both tasks on my laptop.

You want to be using the NVIDIA, NOT the intel on-board graphics.

Soloing may work, but better (simpler) to just use a fresh project with one piece of your own media to start testing.

Make sure there are no plug-ins on the tracks. Don't know much about video plug-ins, but three (useless IMO) audio processors are added to each tracks by default (which BTW can be changed).

Which one is selected to start VPro (rightclick on the startpic)

Sorry, but what does "rightclick on the startpic" mean?

This

This

I'm going to have a "Doh"! moment I know, but that doesn't help!
I can see that that is a shortcut icon, but I don't get those options if I rt-clk my shortcut icon.

On every laptop it should be available with more than 1 GPU installed or do you mean that there is totally nothing happening after rightclick. |
As I said before: there must be something terrible wrong with the set-up of your laptop.
Bring it to a professional for repair.

Those options only exist on Windows 10 with post-April updates installed.

On every laptop it should be available with more than 1 GPU installed or do you mean that there is totally nothing happening after rightclick. |
As I said before: there must be something terrible wrong with the set-up of your laptop.
Bring it to a professional for repair.

Of course I get a set of options when I rt-clk, just not the option to choose which GPU to open the program with.

Those options only exist on Windows 10 with post-April updates installed.

I set my laptop to auto update. I'll check that out, thanks.
Yes, I already had all the updates except one from October which is installing now.
Strange.
EDIT:
No, not strange, user error! It was a "cumulative update", which I can only assume means I somehow missed the other ones.
Anyway, we're back on track as I now get the option to select GPUs!
Thanks to you both.

So, updated GPU (and Windows 10!) opened with NVidia GPU and selected NVidia for Graphics acceleration as advised.
It runs MUCH better.
It is still skipping frames, and is not smooth, but not so that it is impossible to work.
I'll try some of my own files later (my toddler needs his lunch!)
Thanks for getting me this far.

Of course I get a set of options when I rt-clk, just not the option to choose which GPU to open the program with

To me it looks than that Windows is not seeing both GPU's I mentioned before
"You have 2 GPU's the Nvidia GeForce® GTX 880M and the Intel® HD Graphics 4600", according to the specs in your signature.

To me it looks than that Windows is not seeing both GPU's I mentioned before
"You have 2 GPU's the Nvidia GeForce® GTX 880M and the Intel® HD Graphics 4600", according to the specs in your signature.

As you can see from my posts above, it was a Windows update issue. My rt-clk is the same as yours now!
Unfortunately I'm no further on as I've been looking after my poorly toddler all day.

Which driverversion did the Windows update install?
With me it were a half year ago the wrong ones for working with Vegas Pro.
You can check it on

the one listed here is also the latest for your NVidia GPU.
You can also try to start Vegas with the Intel ( also latest drivers) and use the Nvidia for hardware acceleration in Options/Preferences/Video.