Yes, you should feel BIAB is more ‘peppy’ feeling. If you get an M.3 SSD drive for BIAB, that will make an amazing difference in file and RealTrack loading. Next to that is the CPU speed for regeneration of songs.

Just knowing i3 versus i7 doesn’t guarantee a performance increase. There are lots of speed levels and number of cores in each line. I’ve seen an i5 blow the doors off a lower spec 17. So, compare the processor speed ex. 3.7 GHz and then look at the number of cores. Sites by Intel and third parties like Geekbench can compare CPUs you might buy.

I just went from an i7 that was good seven years ago to a mid-spec i9. It does feel faster overall in everything I do.

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.