One of the advantages of AC is that you get to try it out first.
You need to play with wired vs wireless. Wireless is very dependent on both equipment and building structure. Maybe it will work well, perhaps not. You do need to take a few extra steps to secure it but you should check it out. It doesn't require hard wiring.
Desktop vs laptop vs tablet: Again, a preference issue. For my eyes, bigger is better. That will be desktop (although my home laptop is 17 inches.) Tablets can work, especially if you have an external keyboard, but they are smaller. Try it out, see what you like.
Then there is hosted vs server vs peer to peer. This is a bit more difficult because it's more difficult to switch back and forth between these three. Cloud based is dependent on consistent and fast internet. If you don't have it, then it really isn't an option (how fast? ask AC, I actually don't know.)
Peer to peer vs server? As Bert says above there are volumes on the board about it and strong sentiments in both camps. I'm in both having one of each in 2 offices. Servers require more of an outlay. If you REALLLLLLLLY have the time, download a trial version of Windows Server and compare it with a peer to peer. Impractical but possible. Truly not as crucial as the other factors, you can always go from P2P to Server based.
Windows vs Mac: Keep it Simple, Windows will win. Yes you can add a node with a Mac, but it's way more difficult to set up a system without Windows unless you are doing cloud based. OR you could go Linux.....
