Envy 14 & FL Studio Users (few questions)

This model is in my top 3 list and I have a few questions for those who produce music:

1. My current model is a 17" but it keeps on breaking (an MSI laptop). Is a 14.5" difficult to manage when composing music? I mean, when it comes to digging through folders, etc., is everything easy to navigate/readable?

2. The Envy 14 I'm looking at is 1079$, but if I want the upgraded screen, it's 300$. Would you say the 300$ is worth it and would it provide an extremely magnificent picture/better navigation when you compose music compared to the stock screen?

I feel as if 300$ is a rip off, but the cheapest NEW envy 14 is on ebay and would be shipping from the US. The HP store is overpriced as well as local retail stores. Any other suggestions?

3. If I were to compose music on battery only and brightness at an acceptable level, how long would the battery last (with and without the slice addon)?

Any other info. would be appreciated.

 

Absolutely. It might be a bit of a shock coming from a 17", but it's really not a small laptop. It's closer to the size of a 15.4". You WILL enjoy the better portability, unless you do nothing with it except let it sit on a desk.

The 1600x900 Radiance display is probably the #1 best feature of the Envy 14. I wouldn't buy one without it personally.

Expect ~4 hours out of the stock battery during light to medium use, and ~2.5 hours out of heavy use (playing videos, games, etc.). Expect roughly double that when adding in the slice battery. In other words, the battery life is decent, but not spectacular. The laptop has a lot of other great things going for it, though.

 

Mine lasts about 4 hours when browsing, maybe a bit more, but FL studio takes it down to about 3 (regular battery).

I haven't seen the regular screen, but after using the Radiance I'm sure I don't want to go to 720p. Just too small for pretty much everything.

As for the physical screen size, 14.5" is just fine to take care of the 1600x900 resolution, unless you have bad eyes.