I guess the basics of this is that I'm going to need to get a new computer, since I really think that's where the problem is right now.
Gary
That may be true, though I'm sceptical that this is a
CPU issue as I have both a desktop and a notepad PC with BiaB 2022, the desktop (i5-7400) about 25% more powerful than yours, the laptop probably rather less than yours (dual-core Celeron 1.5GHz).
On the notepad I have to stop some background MS services or sometimes things go into
a stuttering mode. I also can't use VSTs that are CPU-resource heavy like PianoTeq. What I do notice with this (Win8.1) PC, though is that once the stuttering starts even killing the probably-offending MS programs doesn't seem to get BiaB to recover.
On the desktop, I just ran a song (Caveat: using Wine on Linux) with ten tracks active, six RealTracks and four MIDI tracks with Native Instruments VSTIs on them and BiaB takes ~10% of the grand total of ~15% CPU. I doubt that BiaB under Wine is more efficient than on Windows (though it may be a little as RealBand reports more tracks available than on Win10 ... I know not why and am cautious about believing it, though this
has a performance-oriented kernel). This machine
does have a graphics card, though I think BiaB should mostly be lightweight in the graphics as there's little going on on the screen.
My suspicion is that it isn't the CPU, but it might be related some other part of the hardware, maybe a graphics chip and driver (maybe you've already tried that)? Might it be possible to turn off the screen when BiaB is running or try a lower resolution. Years ago we used to turn off the Ethernet, but I'm doubtful that would a problem now. Bluetooth?