HP Envy 4 Ultrabook

So I just ended up making a purchase of HP Envy 4-1117NR.

Had a few questions:
1. I have my own 8GB of RAM (1600Mhz at 1.35v, 2x4GB) and 512GB SSD. Is it easy installing Windows 7 Pro? It ships with Windows 8 by default. I would prefer to run Windows 7 + Ubuntu in dual boot mode.
2. I've always had a glossy screen on my laptops and so I'll fit right in with the HP Envy 4. However, is there any workable mod for upgrading the screen resolution to 1600x900 or a matte display. Laptop screen lists a matte screen that is compatible but I don't want to be quick to jump the gun before hearing from someone who has actually done this.
3. I bought this with the 52WHr battery in mind. How is the battery life? I am expecting somewhere around 5-6 hours. As that reasonable?

Thanks.

 

I have never used this notebook... but it is an Ultrabook, so I'm going to warn you that A) it may only have one RAM slot or the RAM may be Soldered to the motherboard B) it may not fit a full size 2.5" SSD C) Opening up an ultabook may void its warranty. Just a heads up that these are common situations with ultrabooks. It is a bigger ultrabook at 14" so you may not have all these problems.

5-6 hours is probably reasonable for an ultrabook

As it has a 14" screen, you can upgrade to any 14" screen with the same connection. Would suggest that you only do this if you have experience.

 

I have this machine. It has 2 ram slots. It is not soldered. It uses a slim hard drive so if you do not have a 7mm ssd you will have to remove the ssd from it's case to install it. You can actually just use double stick foam tape to secure it inside. Whatever you do make sure if you go this route that you do secure the bare ssd with some non-conducting material. I know Apple does this. Opening it does not void it's warranty. You will have to keep in mind that the mSATA is running as cache for the hdd and you will have to disable all of that.

I have installed an SSD and 16GB of ram and it works fine. I think you need the latest bios but be careful I bricked mine twice with the bios update tool from HP. You need to flash the bios file manually. Do not use their tool.

 

Just got my HP Envy 4.
Couple of issues. The Synaptics Clickpad 8.1 doesn't respond to 3-finger flicks. Not sure if there is a fix for this.
I have not done anything to the ultrabook just as yet. I tried the latest driver fom HPs website, and it still did not work.

Any advice?