I've a terrible lag, I guess it haves something to do with Vista. I can't even move and it takes 20 seconds to show up my hp & food stats and for the chat to let me show what people tell.
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic
RAM: 512Mb
Processor: AMB Sempron 3100+ ~1.8Ghz
Video: nVidia GeForce 5200 FX 128Mb
It's a problem with Vista. I had the same when I had it installed. I am really unsure whether this is because of Sun (because they haven't made Java Vista-compatible yet), or because of some other issues. Fiddle around with some settings is all I can say. It improved it a bit for me.
Microsoft does not support openGL in Vista, so you have no/very bad HW acceleration. You need new drivers from the graphics cards manufacturer, the M$ drivers coming with Vista are deliberately crappy.