Welcome to the most friendly site on the web. Also we can never have too many guitarists!

I also are in the desktop computer camp for all of the reasons given.

You have received great advice on computers and audio interfaces but no one has mentioned speakers yet. Laptop speakers are the worst. Computer speakers, those you buy and plug in, range from bad to mediocre IMHO. You will need some near field monitors and depending on either how much you want to spend or how deep you want to get into recording will determine how much you want to play. If you are going to record directly from your POD HD500X then you will need near field monitors IMHO.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Whenever I get something stuck in the back of my throat, I dislodge it by drinking a beer.
It's called the Heineken Maneuver.

64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware