Originally Posted By: Scott C
... the i7-7700 and win11. Microsoft’s thank you to its loyal customers.

I'd forgotten this nasty trend. I was coerced into getting Windows10 on this machine, because I tried to re-install the Windows7 that was working just fine apart from an occasional 'nag' pop-up saying my "CPU was designed for a newer version of Windows", but, after a huge amount of trying, I eventually learned that Win7 will not install on my newer CPU. This newer CPU is not listed on the Win11 compatible list, so presumably that would happen again.

I didn't so much mind changing to Win10 (which has been fine), but I did actually need Win7 for software compatibility testing. Rather than trying to source an "old" used machine on which to install Win7, I tried running it in a VirtualBox on Linux and it installed and ran just fine, on exactly the same machine ... odd, huh? I have a friend who runs several OSs in VirtualBox on Windows, for similar reasons ... MS may want to kill old versions of the OS, but some of us out here still need to support our clients on 'legacy' versions.

BiaB seemed to run quite well inside VirtualBox on Linux, though inevitably it will lose some resource to the host OS. On Linux there are some complications involving some USB ports (MIDI In in this case) and I just swapped to the Win10, rather than mess around, but I believe they can be mapped OK; I just didn't have the patience.

That doesn't help with choices for performance, but it might help if someone needs a means to run a Windows version on 'unsuitable' hardware.

Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful.
Kawai MP6, Korg M50, Ui24R, Saffire Pro 40.
AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11; Win8.1: Scarletts
BIAB2022 UltraPAK, Reaper, a bunch of stuff.