Ian, welcome to the forum. I haven't read the whole thread, but two recent things caught my eye:

First, if you stay with your current laptop, you should not use the internal soundcard, but you do not need to 'swap it out'. Just buy a USB audio interface. Something as simple as a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 would do so much better than the built-in card.

Second, although your computer "system is 64 bit", double-check what your Windows is. Control Panel, System will show if the version of Windows is 32-bit or 64. Only if it is 64 can you benefit from more than 4 GB RAM, as John said.


BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.