I have just bought my first CNC router (Exel sl6090 pro) used of ebay. I plan to use to for 3d wood carving in an outbuilding.
I need to decide on CAM and control software and could do with some advice.

The router comes with a DSP hand controller but as I am completely new to CNC machines I feel I would probably find it easier to have a PC with Mach 3 as my user interface with the machine. Any thoughts on this?
I plan to use Deskproto as my CAM software on my modern powerful laptop and then transfer the output file to the router PC in the workshop. How would I do that? Flash drive? Or is there a better way?

I am about to buy a refurb' PC off ebay to run the router using Mach 3. I was going to go for an IMB Thinkcentre with flat screen monitor, keyboard and mouse. Anything to look out for when buying an old desktop to run Mach 3 for 3d routing? They seem to come with windows XP or 7 depending on how much you spend. Is one better than the other for running Mach 3.

Any advice on hardware/software choices much appreciated.

Chris