With an all stock car you can get some of the basics done. Like add some timing instead of twisting the Dizzy. I would stay away from the fuel side on a stock or close to stock (IE no heads, cam, intake upgrades). But as you learn more and feel more comfortable you will be able to do more...grow with the mods and the tweecer.
Laptop will be the best way, you can get it to work with a desktop but it will be a MUCH bigger hassle and getting a datalog is almost out of the question.
It will probably not help much in stock form as a twist of the dizzy will get you about the same outcome. Down the road with more mods...YES it will be a helpful.