Long time Linux mint user. I switched to cachyos. I heard that cachy was faster but I wasn't expecting much. But it really do feel snappier.
The big difference for me is battery life. I do virtual therapy so hour long video call fairly regularly. A video call would take me from 100% to ~20% battery on Linux mint. On cachyos its 100% to 50% battery. General use it lasts long but I don't have numbers for that other than more.
I have similar laptop too. 8GB ram, but I think I have an i5.
Edit: KDE on cachyos. Linux mint cinnamon