Beginner - Casio CTK 7300IN and general music related Questions

[spawndon]

Hello, This is my first post. I know nothing about music, but want to learn to play keyboards for pastimes.
I did some research on the web, and this has led me to narrow down my choice to Casio keyboards.

My preference in decreasing order(according to the products available in my country): 
1) CTK-7300IN (sliders on left side) 
2) WK-240K7 (76 keys) 
3) CT-X870IN/ CT-X8000IN (new AiX sound engine)

 

Questions:
1) Since where I live, music and keyboards are a very rare hobby, I am not getting a used one, and the equivalent of 280 USD is the most I can spend, are the choices of keyboards correct? (7300 cost my quivalent of 280 USD, that's 3/5 of a month's salary)
2) I want one good keyboard, so that after I learn my way around music, I can still use the keyboard for making better music, are the afore-mentioned choices good?

3) Someone on a forum claimed that CTK-7300 come close to workstation capabilities, so does that mean I can actually synthesize music with its Drawbar Sliders?
4) In my learning journey, will 61 keys hinder me, so that I can consider the WK240 76 key version?
5) What kind of DSP do these Casios have? And do I need a hardware synth module so that I can create advanced effects? (Like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GV2FIWhH-Z8)
6) Does AHL vs AIX matter for me? People already claim Yamahas have more depth of sound than Casios, and I don't want a Yamaha. (My choice:
7) Can I make guitar pedals FX work with my Casio? Do I need guitar pedals for FX like reverb or delay?
😎 Do I need a monitor speaker? Will a plain CD Player's speaker work? Are the Keyboard's onboard speakers good enough or poor?
9) Since these have USB MIDI, can I connect them directly to a speaker?
10) Do I need a DAW? What are some low cost/ free DAWs? Is a soft-synth far better than any hardware synth, since they use computer CPUs?

[CasioArt]

Wow, lots of questions. That's a good thing.

 

I may have the answer to number 6). AiX sound engine should matter. It matters to me and was one the main reasons for getting a Casio. People perceive sound differently. Yamaha may have some catching up to do.