Mac vs. PC and other gear questions

[DrewPeterson7]

You get a little streak of lightning against the Thundebolt sockets.
If it all works, I will get 32 audio outs and 32 audio ins plus the PC stereo out over the Thunderbolt cable to my audio interface.

32/32 probably IS brushing up at the point where you are going to want Thunderbolt over USB-C at that.

I'm still running an older Apogee Ensemble that's been awesome for a decade or so now. But, when it does come time to retire that interface, even though I don't have the outboard preamps yet, I do want something that can support at least 16 in (outputs are at present less of a concern). 16 is maybe a little low for a "metal" drum kit production, but it's certainly a workable number of inputs for a drum kit where you're planning on using close mics extensively, and I think having the option to track live drums is a pretty good benchmark, even if these days I just program.