Reaper is very forgiving of the operating system. Win 7 32-bit will be fine. I can't see any reason to switch to Mac to run Reaper, although feel free if you have other reasons to migrate. And if you ultimately want to run a Mac, you can start on Windows now and switch over when your sack of pennies is large enough.
When I bought a new laptop to replace an aging desktop, I just installed Reaper, moved over my old projects, and I was done. I never bothered with any optimization and haven't experienced any problems.
Multitrack recording is a breeze with Reaper. It's easy to record multiple simultaneous tracks and to add tracks later on.
I used to be with a different Brand X DAW (Sonar). There was a slight learning curve due to different approaches and different keystrokes. But within a few weeks my brain had been rewired to the Reaper way of doing things and I haven't looked back. Reaper may not be the easiest to learn for a DAW novice, but if you have the concepts down, the transition shouldn't be difficult for you.
You'll definitely learn a lot from the folks on this forum. I'd imagine that most of the questions you'll come up with have already been asked. And if not, ask away. Somebody will be along to give you a hand. I also strongly recommend the various Reaper books by Geoffrey Francis and Kenny Gioia's tutorials on groove3.com - or both the books and the videos. You'll find a wealth of knowledge as well as some great tips on getting on the fast track to Reaper.
So give the download a try. It's a free trial. If you're like me, you'll make your buying decision after just a few days of using it.
Welcome to the obsession!
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We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.
--Charles Kingsley... or maybe Albert Einstein... definitely somebody wiser than myself--
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