1) +1 (24 tracks please)
2) +1 (orchestral strings, flutes too)
3) -1... do not see a point of that, You can get PC based laptop very cheap. Chromebooks will not support most of other music software and drivers.
4)Neutral on that. That could be done as a "sticky" poll and new user will see, what is most "popular" and make their own decision. Bottom line, I think Focusrite is what a lot of people prefer smile Or... PG (or friends of PG)can make couple of popular interface setup videos for BIAB.

5)Neutral on that. However I do see benefit of that as far as "processing" time. If the files you are working on in BIAB are mono, they would take less space and maybe that will contribute to faster regeneration times?