Sony 230 P/B Battery Life and Pre-Installed Software Bundle

Hi everyone, I need some critical advice. Im pretty set on purchasing the Sony 230 P/B from CompUsa, especially due to the $200 price drop. I've been tirelessly doing research, I do not know much about computers, and the two major complaints about the sony were the battery life and the pre-installed software. So two questions:
1) How bad is the battery life? I see that there's an extended battery that I wouldnt mind purchasing but was wondering how much extra life it gives the computer and how much added weight/size it adds?
2) I read tons of complants on how the pre-packaged software unnecessarily slows the computer down and how difficult it is to remove it. I found a great link in this forum, http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=44587, but it seems like there is room for a lot of mistakes and I definitely do not have the knowledge to correct any issues on my own. Is it safe to follow these directions to clear the software? How terrible is the software and how much can be accomplished by just deleting program files.

Thanks so much again, this forum has been so helpful.

 

It has dual graphics cards and u can just use a remover for the pre- installed software....