Latency depends on CPU power?

[tomTRB5II]

(I dont own a Digi001 yet, so please exuse the stupid question)
As I understand it, latency refers to the time lapse when recording a track & monitoring it at the same time, like for headphone mixes, etc.
I understand that low latency mon. bypasses plugins for the mon. mix.
My question: Does latency decrease when CPU power increases? If I were to take the plunge, I would probably get a 1.33 ghz machine, or similar monster system.
I had thought about using a mixer (alesis studio32) like suggested on the DUC, but the outs on each channel are not bal. TRS, they're unbal. I would insist upon staying bal. if I can.
Also, what kind of latency are we talking about? Is it too drastic to use without a mixer?
Thanks to all,
Tomtrb