Good value laptop for music production (beginner)

Total budget and country of purchase: $500 max, USA

Do you prefer a 2 in 1 form factor, good battery life or best specifications for the money? Pick or include any that apply. Prefer better specs over batter life, for the money.

How important is weight and thinness to you? Not very important - this laptop will mainly stay in my home.

Which OS do you require? Windows, Mac, Chrome OS, Linux. Windows would work best.

Do you have a preferred screen size? If indifferent, put N/A. N/A, although 13" and bigger is preferred.

Are you doing any CAD/video editing/photo editing/gaming? List which programs/games you desire to run. I would like to use Sony Acid, Abelon, or Fruity Loops for music editing.

If you're gaming, do you have certain games you want to play? At what settings and FPS do you want? I won't be gaming much on this machine.

Any specific requirements such as good keyboard, reliable build quality, touch-screen, finger-print reader, optical drive or good input devices (keyboard/touchpad)? Good keyboard and input devices are preferred.

Leave any finishing thoughts here that you may feel are necessary and beneficial to the discussion. I need a good value, durable laptop that will be used for music editing and production. Besides that, I'll only be using it for day-to-day browsing and consuming online content.