Hey Richard,
Yes, The memory is cheap these days, and that's not really a problem. I'm probably going to try it out with the HDD that I had installed in it before I contemplate swapping that out with a SSD. The SSD will require a conversion to work in this laptop. A 1 TB SSD is currently going for around $450 here, and the conversion kit is another $25.
The reason I want to go from the submix channels is so that I can premix instruments like drums, and stereo guitar mixes, (sometimes I like to use two stereo channels for guitar to use effects separately, and then layer the mixes, to keep them more articulate. Example: Clean guitar with stereo chorus in one mix, and Crunch guitar with Ping-Pong Delay or Reverb in another mix, and mix the levels of each with each other until it sounds like I want to hear it).
I already have TRS cables for patching in the channel inserts, but using this method to go to the I/O will bypass the channel EQ's, and each channel has 6 EQ frequencies, with selectable Pre or Post EQ, or if I choose, I have a switch on each channel to bypass the EQ altogether.
Adding the effects to anything in the channel strips via the Aux sends and returns gives me a better rendering of the original sound with much less coloration from the effects in respect to the original tones. This applies to all the instruments/vocals that I want to put through the desk. In particular, I have a few favorite drum mixes that I like. One is to use a subtle Large Hall Reverb on the snare drum, (sometimes with Echo Repeat, and sometimes without), then add a Phaser, or Flanger to the toms for those John Bonham type drum fills. A slight mix of Plate Reverb on the cymbals gives me a bit more sparkle, and brightens up a dark drum sound. A clean, very low frequency Bass guitar tone will brighten up and become a bit more articulate with some chorus added to it. These are just a few examples of some of the tips I've picked up over the years in studios I've worked with.
I don't know if I can get these same results with the software that comes with these audio interfaces, or how different it will sound in the final mix by attempting to do all these same things in a DAW, since I don't have much experience working with that method. I basically use the software to capture what I'm putting in to it. ie - replacing my reel to reels with a computer.
Maybe I'm looking at this from the wrong point of view?
Harley