Should I go with a Skull Canyon or a high end Laptop?

I just want some advice on my thought pattern regarding my next major PC purchase.

I am currently using an ASUS laptop that is a dual core, i5, with 8 GB of RAM and has a touchscreen. Obviously, the laptop isn’t unusable, but there are issues with freezing and what I would consider bottlenecking and “lag”. I am willing to concede that some of the lag while on the internet is due to me using Firefox and since I don’t plan on switching browsers permanently, though I do also use Vivaldi, I’m willing to grin and bear that.

However, there are other times where it just feels like I’m not getting enough oomph for my needs and now I will be adding to the workload of what I expect from my computer.

I am anticipating using and doing the following over the next year:

Microsoft Office, in particular Access as I will be building a database for personal use and Excel will be used in conjunction for the database, but also a lot of writing with Word and I’ve always used OneNote.

I’m still kicking around getting back to a website that I began work on, but let go by the wayside, so the actual website which will most likely be with WordPress. But, a good use of Photoshop for images that I want to use on the site. I’ll throw in Lightroom as an adjunct program that may be used, but I definitely used Bridge the first time around and would most likely resume use this go round.

There is another website that I will definitely begin to build and I believe that it would be Adobe Illustrator that will allow me to attempt to draw and create different animations for that site. I will also get some kind of Wacom/Huion device for the drawing.

I am also going to start a YouTube channel, so I will probably need to use Audacity and some other kind of screen recording program for both my computer and mobile devices as well as the microphone for recording.

I may be forgetting a few things, but that sounds like the most intensive projects and programs that I will be using. My initial plan was to get the Skull Canyon with 16 GB and a touchscreen monitor, but looking at the standing/sitting desk that I now have, a 22 inch screen would be excessive. So, now I have to find a smaller touchscreen monitor.

Which brings me to my questions:

Am I correct in believing that I do need something that is quad-core, i7 and has at least 12 GB of RAM?

Should I just go with a laptop that is quad-core, i7, 15-17in touchscreen and 12-16 GB?

I know that the Skull Canyon isn’t upgradeable, but with how computer prices drop, when I really become dissatisfied, I’d be able to move onto the latest and greatest. With a laptop, I wouldn’t be able to do that for the same kind of money.

I might be on the low end of what I think I would need for storage, but do you believe that 500 GB would be enough for now, with the thought that I can upgrade that, or should I just order more from the beginning when I have it built?

And, yes, I’m going to have it built as I looked at the cost for me to build it myself and the difference in cost is worth not dealing with the headache that I would get when trying to install Windows and configure whatever BIOS stuff that I read about with NUCs.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.