Hi Alan
Get an external sound card that will record at 24 bit resolution, forget using the internal sound chip as unless you buy the very expensive laptops the quality is not that good.
Get a laptop with a large hard drive, (or add an external one) as Wav files take up a lot of space, particularly when you record at 24-bit resolution.
The choice of software is up to you, but please remember that Apple bought up Emagic (The makers of logic) and so it is now only available for Apple computers, although for the time being they are still providing support for PC users.
Hope this helps.

Bill