A lot depends Tony on what your requirements are and compare that to your resources.

For example, if you have an office or space sufficient, then a PC might be more desirable, however a laptop gives you much more mobility, typically though (unless you spend large amounts of money) laptops are slower machines compared to PCs.

Given it sounds like you do a lot of work with just text however, this is simple taks for the computers, so my assumption is you won't need large grunty PC.  

If you transfer a larger amount of content through the internet, then you may also determine broadband is suitable for you, also too broadband won't interfere with the phone lines, so if you also spend time on the phone you won't need to rely on a dial up being free.  

If you were to choose to use a laptop then I highly recommend wireless internet as well (which is an easy setup with your broadband) that means your laptop can have an internet connection through the whole house.